In Shades of Red and Gold
by SoloPlayer339
Summary: (ADOPTED from Z. R. Stein) Ruby Rose never knew who her father was; growing up, Summer never spoke about him. Two months after her mother died for her country, Ruby finally gets some answers. Her father is none other than Tony Stark, the infamous weapons designer and billionaire. Very AU for RWBY. Marvel MCU. No Pairings!
1. Chapter 1: Ruby Rose of House Stark

**In Shades of Red and Gold-A RWBY/Avengers crossover AU fic**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of RWBY or the Avengers in any way, shape or form.**

A/N: Hey Everyone! So, I am giving you all just a bit of a heads up. For this story things are going to be a bit different in terms of writing style from what I normally write.

I ended up adopting this story from **Z. R. Stein** when I sent them a PM asking for permission to write a few one-shots that take place in the universe of this story but don't affect the plot but then, to my surprise and joy they offered me the opportunity to adopt it so I did. As a result of this, I want to give a BIG Shout-out to Z. R. Stein. Also I will be doing my best to be as faithful and loyal to the original vision so for those of you who read the original, reading the first 10 chapters of this story is going to leave you feeling a bit of déjà vu.

Now, for those who haven't read the original, this story begins before the events of Iron Man 1, though Tony will be slightly more mature than in the movie. Slightly.

Be warned, this story is very AU for RWBY. By the way, in case you aren't familiar with AU's, a lot of characters in this story (more so with the RWBY characters than the Avengers characters) are going to be very OOC. Also, just so that people don't get confused about who is related to who in this story, here is a handy-dandy little guide. Ruby is the daughter of Tony Stark and Summer Rose. Yang is the daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang. Qrow is Raven's brother and Taiyang's half brother. Also everyone has been de-aged by 2 years, for reasons.

If you have any questions about this story leave them in a review and I will address them in an Author's Note. If you have any questions that don't directly pertain to this story send me a PM. Make sure to tell me what you think of the story down in the Review section down below. Also, for those that haven't read the original, please note that if you find the length of this chapter disappointing/unsatisfactory there is no to fear, for the chapters will get longer as the story progresses.

Additionally, this chapter has a special RWBY reference and I have been told to say that whoever can point it out gets a virtual cookie.

 _ **Edited on the 4th of September, 2018**_ : To all new readers, there are no pairings in this story so please disregard any talk of pairings in author's notes in later chapters.

Okay, that should be everything so, enough chit-chat. Story time!

* * *

Chapter 1: Ruby Rose of House Stark

* * *

An aging Ford Mustang tore down Highway 1, an angry speck of rust red that contrasted sharply with the seaside cliffs of the California coast. The sky was a flawless plane of blue, not a cloud in sight. The sun was shining merrily, and the ocean air was the perfect blend of balmy and briny. All in all, it was the kind of day that made people glad that they lived in the Golden State, as opposed to almost anywhere else.

And yet, a certain teen-aged girl named Ruby Rose was seated in the back of the Mustang wishing that she was literally anywhere else. Alaska was supposed to be bearable this time of year.

"I don't want to go to Malibu, Uncle Qrow! Can't we stay with you?"

In the driver's seat, Qrow Branwen sighed, his eyes obscured behind a pair of aviators.

"Sorry kid… we've been through this already. I'm not blood related to you, Rubes… and I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of formally adopting you. So it's either this or a state facility… trust me, this is better. Much better."

Ruby frowned deeply and returned to looking out of her window… for all of two seconds before her sister punched her shoulder.

"Yang!"

Yang Xiao Long gave her sister a cheeky smile that didn't reach her eyes before responding with, "Lighten up, Rubes! It's Malibu! Sun Surf, hot guys," Yang drooled a bit at that, "…girls in bikinis." Yang added with a suggestive glance at Ruby.

Ruby's face scrunched up cutely and a hearty blush spread across her cheeks.

"Sh-Shut up. That was one time."

Qrow grinned privately as the conversation between the two (though calling it a conversation was a bit of a stretch. It was mostly a back and forth of innuendos and teases from Yang and stuttered replies from Ruby) continued. It was good to see them like this; they deserved some levity in their lives. He had been watching over them since the funeral, it just wasn't natural for the two of them to stay down.

Qrow tuned the girls out, paying the barest amount of attention to the road. Two months to the day, and he himself didn't want to believe it. Summer had always seemed…indomitable. She was the perfect warrior and a damn good mother to boot. After Taiyang had disappeared-damned if he wasn't still mad at his half brother, even after thirteen years-Summer had raised the girls on her own. Qrow had helped out whenever he could, trying to fill in for Tai, but between the missions and the drinking, he hadn't been around as often as he should have been. Summer was really all that the two girls had had.

And then Libya had happened. Freaking Libya. Qrow grimaced. He'd been in the thick of it, same as Summer. They had been in the same platoon, although Qrow had been part of a different squad for the mission. The brass had sent the SEAL platoon in to eliminate some new terrorist group called the Ten Rings that according to reports had emerged from the chaos of the Arab Spring…or at least, that's what the C.O. that led the mission briefing had told the platoon. A newly born terrorist group like that should have been easy to take care of. It wasn't; bloodbath was a far more accurate term than easy. They'd been seriously organized. His squad had lost two members that day, while Summer's was whittled down to just a handful of guys.

The memories rolled around inside of Qrow's mind, and he gripped the old leather steering wheel tightly until his bones were nearly creaking in protest. When he had found out about what happened to Summer, there had not been enough booze in the base to forget. And then…even worse…he had been the one to tell the girls…but then again, it hadn't seemed right to let a complete stranger tell them. He had had to watch as the light died from their eyes when it truly sunk in that their beloved Super Mom was not coming home this time. Something died inside him that day, something that he hadn't even known he still had.

Damn. He could really go for a drink right about now.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow?"

Qrow mentally shook the oppressive mood off and nodded.

"So… um… can you… tell us more about him… my… um… da-I mean… you know." Ruby sounded hesitant in the extreme. Though, that was kind of expected; Summer had never really talked about either of the girls' fathers much.

"Well... I don't know if you've seen him on the news or not. Tony Stark… he's the CEO of Stark Industries, probably the biggest manufacturer and supplier of military tech in the world. Word is he also personally designs the bulk of their advanced products. Guy's a genius billionaire, so you won't be lacking for much.

Ruby released a strangled eep.

"My dad's a billionaire? Why didn't-"

"Why didn't your mom ever tell you?" Qrow said finishing for her.

Ruby nodded.

The eldest Branwen shrugged as he turned off of the highway and onto the exit towards Malibu.

"You kids know how your mom was. Summer never asked for help if she didn't absolutely need it. Plus… well, I don't know everything, but my theory is that Tai left 'cuase he found about her and Stark. Freaking bastard. Err… sorry about that Blondie."

Yang shrugged wearily, a distant, lonely, pain in her eyes.

"Not like I ever got to know the guy."

Damn his brother to hell.

"Anyways… your mom never spoke to Stark after that, at least to my knowledge she didn't. I'm not sure he even knows about you. Summer never came forwards about it, didn't try to claim child support or anything like that. So… he might be… surprised."

Two conflicting emotions warred on Ruby's face.

On the one hand, her dad was a billionaire! How cool was that! She bet he had a huuuuge house and a whole bunch of sports cars. Or at least she hoped that he did. Being the engineering nerd that she was, Ruby could think of nothing better than being able to spend all of her time in a garage tinkering.

On the other hand, how would he react to finding out he had a daughter? He… he could… he could hate her. Ask her to leave. Abandon her. There were so many things that could go wrong!

Yang was hesitant as well, although for… different… reasons. She was slightly better informed than Ruby was. Her sister spent most of her time watching anime, studying college level engineering and mathematics-despite being of the tender age of thirteen-building various things in the garage, and reading manga as well as novels big enough you could use them as a weapon in a pinch. Yang knew that Tony Stark had quite the reputation as a celebrity playboy who cared exclusively about one person: Tony Stark. She swore to herself that she would beat him to a pulp if he so much as thought of doing something that could hurt Ruby, no matter what his relation to her sister was.

Qrow's thinking was along the same lines as Yang's, though he was imagining more… inventive… ways to get at Stark. He might not be able to take care of the girls legally speaking, but he would be damned if he did not watch over them to the best of his ability. He did not care if they threw him away for the rest of their lives; if Stark did not treat the girls right, Qrow would find a way to make him suffer. No one was untouchable, and Qrow had nearly two decades of experience as a soldier to back up his threats.

One could almost feel sorry for Tony Stark. Almost.

. . .

The Mustang pulled up to a wrought iron gate that was set into a high stone wall. A screen was affixed to one of the wall pillars, the Stark Industries logo rotating against a navy blue background.

Qrow rolled down the window and looked at it. Was he supposed to touch it or something like that?

"I have no records of any appointments in my databanks. Please, state your business."

Qrow frowned at the smooth masculine voice that had emanated from the screen. There was something… off… about it. Eh, whatever.

"I'm here to see Tony Stark."

"For what reason, may I ask?"

"I have his daughter in my backseat."

The voice was silent for a full thirty seconds, as if processing this information.

"Do you have any have any proof or documentation, sir?"

Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I've got proof enough. She's Summer Rose's daughter. And don't you sir me… names Qrow Branwen."

"Very well then. Master Stark will see you, Mister Branwen."

The gate opened, slowly sinking into the wall, and Qrow drove his Mustang through.

. . .

Pepper's eyes were practically glowing. Shit. This was bad. This was very bad. Scratch that. This was very, very, bad.

Tony Stark cleared his suddenly dry throat and asked, "JARVIS, could you repeat that?"

"Sir, a man who identified himself as 'Qrow Branwen' says that he has your daughter in the back seat of his car. I've opened the gate for them."

"Do they have proof? Who does he say the mother is?" Tony asked, clinging desperately to the idea it was all a lie.

"He assured me that he has some form of it, sir. He mentioned a 'Summer Rose' being the mother. I believe that it would be best if you were to meet him personally."

Summer? Did he know a Summer Rose? "Hmmm… could be lying."

"And if he isn't?" Pepper said, interjecting, her voice harsh. "If he's telling the truth, you can't afford to ignore him. With all due respect, Mister Stark, knowing you, there is a fairly good chance that she is in fact your daughter."

Tony made a small, panicked noise.

"Wh… what about that thing? The uh… the… the Jackson Pollock showing. I was going to go to that today-"

"Tony! You are not going to an art show instead of this!" Shit, she looked mad. Why had he hired her again? Oh right, because she actually put up with his insanity. Hey, he couldn't help it that he was a borderline mad scientist. Although he could do without a daughter.

Oh, hell. What if she really was his daughter? Tony knew he wasn't qualified to be a parent. He was liable to be worse than his old man.

Tony winced. Ok, if she really did happen to be his daughter, he would make sure that he treated her better than Howard had treated him. There were enough messed up kids out there in the world as it was.

Shit… he would have to tone down on the swearing. How old was she supposed to be anyways? JARVIS hadn't mentioned anything… what if she-

"Sir, the car has pulled up to the front of the house. Where will you be meeting them?"

In the silence that followed, Pepper sighed deeply and said to JARVIS, "He'll meet with them outside. Mister Stark, come along."

If Tony wasn't so preoccupied, he would have snarked at her. As it was, he was desperately searching through his collection of half forgotten trysts with various women. Summer Rose… that name did sound familiar… wa-ah shit.

He remembered her alright. Cute little thing he had met during the demonstration of his first piece of weapons tech. She had been just sitting at the bar by herself trying to drown her sorrows when he had walked up. She had had the most amazing silver eyes…

And if he remembered correctly, she had been married at the time. Shit. And that was… what… fourteen years ago? He had a teenage daughter then.

Pepper reached the door and opened it. Tony brought himself out of the mire of his thoughts long enough to notice that there was a dark red Ford Mustang parked in his driveway. A '71 if he was not mistaken. Well, at least the guy had good taste.

The man whose name was apparently 'Qrow Branwen' was leaning against the side of the car, windswept, gunmetal grey hair pushed back and a pair of aviators over his eyes. He looked to be about forty, and had hard, corded muscle over every inch of his body. Great… with the way this day was going so far, this guy would turn out to be Summer's husband.

"Tony Stark?"

Tony nodded, swallowing thickly.

"That'd be me. Nice car, by the way. '71, right?"

The guy, Qrow, gave him a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. Got her from a junkyard a few years back and fixed her up. Best car I ever owned."

Good. Car talk. Tony could do car talk.

Qrow's smile vanished. "But that isn't why I'm here."

Shit.

. . .

Ruby looked out of the window at the man whom she assumed was her father. He looked… nice. He was definitely rich. Even the casual clothes that he was wearing looked like they cost more than her entire wardrobe. And that house! It was enormous! Right on the ocean as well. Her father's house…

Ruby pulled the front of her hood down further over her face as her nervousness increased to critical levels. She did not think she could do this! What if-what if he-

"Rubes?"

Yang was looking at her sister, concern written all over her face. She held out a hand.

"Come on little sis. I'll be right here, kay?"

Ruby took her sister's outstretched hand and gave it a little squeeze, hoping to let out some of her nervousness.

"Okay."

. . .

A car door slammed shut on the side facing away from Tony. He saw a red hood emerge, followed by a mane of bright yellow. Wait… there were two of them? Shit, shit, shit, shit. Which one was his daughter? Who the hell was the other one?

The two girls walked over next to Qrow. The one wearing the hood would not look directly at him, and he could not see much of her. The other one looked like she was trying to burn a hole through his head with her eyes; eyes that seemed more red than lavender. Whew… that was a strong glare.

Qrow reached up and plucked his aviators off, clearing his throat.

"Stark… this is Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Ruby is Summer's daughter. Ruby?"

The girl in red almost seemed to cringe before she slowly drew back her hood.

Damn. She certainly was Summer's daughter. He would remember those eyes anywhere.

She looked to be about thirteen. A small, teardrop shaped face with messy strands of black and red hair everywhere. Cute kid.

The girl stared at him for at least five seconds, then opened her mouth and in a voice so small he had to strain to hear it said, "Hi. I'm Ruby."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. Being him though, it did not take long for something to spill out of his mouth.

"Do you like Chinese food?"

Everyone present blinked at the non-introduction. Tony winced and continued anyways, waving a hand around vaguely in front of him.

"Just, well… I could kinda go for some. And I was uh… wondering if you'd like some too."

Ruby tilted her head, thinking about it, and then nodded and in a more normal tone said, "I'd like that. Can I get orange chicken and spring rolls?"

"Some kind of spicy beef for me. The hotter the better!" added the other girl, Yang. At least she was not glaring at him anymore. Good icebreaker, food.

"Right. I'll tell JARVIS when we go back in… so… you guys wanna come inside the house?"

Ruby nodded, a bit of excitement on her face, while Qrow and Yang simply shrugged.

As soon as they entered, Tony spoke to the empty hallway.

"JARVIS? We're ordering takeout from Sun Wukong's. Get the usual, plus spring rolls and some hot and spicy beef. Better double up on the orange chicken as well."

Tony noticed the girls looking at him like he was crazy. Ooo… probably should've warned them about JARVIS.

"The order has been sent. Will there be anything else, sir?"

Before Tony could respond, the girl (his daughter-well, his daughter probably… damn, that was going to take some getting used to if she was) asked, "Who's that?"

Tony gestured towards a panel on the wall.

"That'd be JARVIS. He's an AI that runs the house."

Ruby's face lit up with excitement as she momentarily forgot her shyness.

"An AI? Did you program him yourself?"

"Yeah."

Tony blinked and the kid was next to him, silver eyes sparkling.

"That's so cool! I didn't even know that was possible! I mean, I've coded some robots before, but that's nothing compared to an AI!"

"You've coded robots?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. Huh. Interesting.

"I actually brought one of them with me. Oh! Oh! Uncle Qrow, can we go and get Zwei out of the car soon?"

Qrow (whom was her uncle, apparently-whew, he wasn't Summer's husband) nodded, a playful smile on his face.

Blondie was smiling as well, though hers was a sly and teasing one.

"Sis, your nerd is showing."

Ruby glowered at her sister (sister? Ah shit… she must be Summer's kid from the guy she was married to; it explained the glare) before sticking her tongue out at her.

"Nerds are awesome and you know it."

Heh… he might actually grow to like this girl.

. . .

Pepper was impressed. Tony had made it a whole ten minutes without making an ass out of himself in front of his daughter-the girl whom might be his daughter. Although, it was looking more and more likely as the minutes ticked by; she could see hints of Tony in the structure of the cheekbones and in the messy, black hair. That, and the way the girl was going off on a passionate tangential rant about hydraulics. Of course a child of Tony's would be an engineering prodigy.

Still… one could never be too careful. There hadn't been many, but a handful of children had come forwards over the years claiming to be Tony's progeny. All of them had been discovered to be fakes and had been summarily removed.

"Mister Branwen?"

The gentleman named Qrow turned towards her, as did the other three occupants of the room.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering if you have the proof that you said you brought. I hope you understand… there have been others. Mister Stark is a rather wealthy individual and… well… " Pepper motioned with her hand, attempting to convey what she was trying to say.

Qrow nodded like he had been expecting the question and drew a manila file folder out from within his vest.

"It's not much, but I have the birth certificate and a few photos. From what little Summer told me… they weren't together for too long."

Tony nodded, his dark eyes unreadable.

"Couldn't have been more than a week. I remember her though."

The room fell into an awkward silence at that, Tony resolutely staring at his shoes. The sound of JARVIS' voice made them all jump.

"Sir, the food has arrived. I just opened the gate to let the delivery van in.

Pepper nodded to herself and said, "Right… I'll go and get that."

Anything to escape that oppressive mood. Damn it Tony… how did he always manage to get himself into the most awkward situations. She was not paid enough for this.

* * *

A/N: Since, I couldn't find a way to fit this into the Author's Note at the top that actually worked here we go.

Yes, for those of you whom are wondering, Ruby and Yang still have their abilities, or at least they will, in the future. However, that is not for quite a while. I won't be saying more than that.

Also, yes. More RWBY characters will be appearing. Eventually.


	2. Chapter 2: TheStartOfAWonderfulFamily

A/N: Hey Everyone! So, I want to apologize for saying that I would post this around the end of March or the start of April and yet I am only publishing it now. First I was prevented from working on this story because of filing taxes, and then I was prevented from working on it because of all the stuff I had on my plate because of preparing for Finals for my classes. I want to thank everyone for all the positive responses and condolences I have received. It means a lot that you are all so ecstatic about me adopting this story.

Reviews:

In regards to **Kung-fu Blaziken** 's, **Ashbel Longhart** 's, **SirSpangler** 's, **Infinity Emperor** 's, **TheFishKing** 's and **JinaFires99** 's concerns about whom I will be pairing Ruby with, as things stand I was thinking of either pairing her with an OC of my design or not pairing her with anyone simply because the RWBY fandom is so divided when it comes to ships, so keeping everyone happy seems impossible. However I think I will put up a poll around the time I get to the Iron Man 2 arc to see who you all want me to pair Ruby with.

 **Jedi Alex Colbent** , if I understand the question correctly, the reason why I didn't just upload all 10 of the pre-existing chapters is that , for good reason won't let you select the body of a story and right-click and copy, so I have to type everything up myself. Also I find that typing up everything instead of copying and pasting helps me catch grammar and spelling errors as well as other things that need correcting.

 **Fido123a** , I will be doing my level best to bring about a greater level of accuracy for the representation of the armed forces for those parts of the story, which is why I have a very important scene I have planned wherein Qrow and Rhodey meet and an issue I noticed in regards to service times is addressed. I used the word soldier because of special reasons you will discover in that scene.

 **ahsoei** , while my reference pool might need expanding, all of the adopted stories I have seen on this site are the same for the chapters that originate from the original as those in the original, aside from a few small alterations, which if you were paying attention you would have noticed there are a few small alterations in my adopted version.

 **Obiki Doragon** , yes there will be mutants. It also helps that I can now justify it since Disney is buying 20th Century Fox which means they now own the rights to X-men.

 **Nyx the Author** , there will not be aura or semblances everyone with super powers/abilities will have a comic book-y explanation behind their powers/abilities. There will be mutants in this story so everyone's favorite semblances are likely to be featured. Qrow has a very boss scene in the future and I have many plans of awesomeness for him. As for the Grimm and Salem all I can say is *spoilers*.

 **JorgeUzumaki** , while I don't want to give too much away, Peter Parker will be showing up and will be meeting Ruby and co. during the Avengers 1 arc.

 **Guest** and **Guest** , presuming you are two different people, in the future pleaseleave a review either signed into an account or with a different guest reviewer name than guest because having a bunch of people called guest is going to get super confusing super fast. As for the idea of the power of the silver eyes being the ability to control the infinity stones, that is a very interesting idea that would easily work as a premise for a whole other story but I am sorry, there are things I have planned for this story that will make that idea not fit well into the story.

Now, in the event that I put up a poll and people do want Ruby and Peter Parker paired up, those of you who hate that idea should hang around until after the post-Avengers 1 arc because when I get there, you will love a special little one-shot I have planned that given enough demand might result in a spin-off wherein Ruby meets an alternate reality version of herself whom has adopted a certain special mantle that requires certain events that I think you will like.

Now, again, if you have any questions about this story leave them in a review and I will address them in an Author's Note. If you have any questions that don't directly pertain to this story send me a PM.

Also, wowzer! As of writing this Author's Note, there are 281 Favorites and 420 Follows just for 1 chapter, that is unbelievablely, just wow.

Now enough chit-chat. Story time!

* * *

Chapter 2: Chinese Food and the Start of a Wonderful Family-ship

* * *

While Pepper was laying out the small feast of assorted oriental food, Tony was trying to start the conversation back up.

"So, anyways… there I was, this _BIG_ conference in Beijing, it was called… uh… chimes, was it? No, wait, CIMES, that's the one. This was… what… like, five years ago?"

"Six," Pepper said, "It was in June, and the weather was, without a doubt, the absolute _worst_ , remember?"

"Right. That's right." Tony Sniffed. "So, Hammer Tech had one of their production bots on display, it was a great, _BIG_ , clunky, piece of sh… er... steel."

Pepper rolled her eyes as she doled out five plates worth of food. Bless his cold, little, heart. He was, in fact, actually trying.

"Ahem… anyways. The Hammer rep was going on and on and on about the 'state of the art' new Hammer Tech Z-20 production robot, or whatever the hell it was called. So, I walked up to the guy, and told him I could build something _infinitely_ better in three hours. One thing led to another, the big Hammer himself, not to be confused with Captain Hammer, shows up-although, to be perfectly honest, I don't actually know how 'big' his hammer is. Not that I really want to know either-"

Yang and Qrow smirked, while Ruby just looked confused. Pepper, however, sent an exasperated glare at her boss.

"Tony!"

"Sorry. Anyways. So, he started bragging about his tech and talked, right in front of me no less, about how Stark Industries isn't quite up to snuff, at least compared to Hammer Tech. Typical corporate showiness for the reporters. He is such a pompous prick. Anyways. We go on from there; a few back-handed compliments, with more than a few insults thrown in, and he bets three hundred grand that _I_ can't do it."

Yang and Ruby looked at Tony, both fully engaged in the story; although, to be fair, Ruby was mainly interested in it for the robotics side of things, and Yang just wanted to hear about an arrogant, rich, prick getting his comeuppance.

"So, what happened?" Yang asked.

"I jury-rigged a hydraulic claw, a plasma torch, and a generator onto an old industrial bot, inserted a not-so-intelligent AI program I just so _happened_ to have on me, and then cranked up the specs until it could assemble anything in half the time that Hammer's could. It cut the competition to pieces- _literally_ -and then rebuilt them into a modern art piece. And on top of that-what do you know-that piece earned me five hundred grand, I keep telling Pepper that I'd make a _killing_ on the art circuit."

The punch-line garnered a few chuckles, and Tony flashed a triumphant smile as the tension in the room eased somewhat.

Pepper passed around the food and they dug in; after all, Qrow, Ruby, and Yang had been on the road for hours, and hadn't eaten. For several minutes, no one spoke, the only sound being that of people happily enjoying a meal.

Qrow finished first and leaned back, pushing his plate away.

"Good food. Thanks for the eats, Tony. Now… about why we're here."

The atmosphere of the room stilled, the air feeling stifled as the occupants stopped all activity.

"I know you probably are still going to want her to take some tests or something, but I'm telling you, she's your daughter. And… look, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just get it out of the way; Summer died a couple months ago. Ruby doesn't have anyone else."

Pepper's eyes widened.

"No one?"

"No one. I haven't heard from Taiyang in over a decade-that's Yang's dad, by the way, my half –brother. He just up and vanished, went off the grid. My sister Raven, well, I haven't seen her in almost a year, but… I don't know if I'd trust her around kids."

Tony frowned and asked, "Why's that?"

"She's… not the most… _stable_ … person. I don't… like to talk about it, yeah?"

Tony nodded hesitantly, momentarily at a loss.

"Hmmm… What about you?"

"…I wish I could. Hell part of me wants to try. But I'm only related to Yang by half-blood, and none to Ruby. Plus, between my job, my habits, and my record, I'm not exactly what one would call caretaker material."

Tony folded his hands together, settling into business mode. "You've got a record?"

"Eh, small time stuff. Disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, that kinda stuff."

Tony smirked slightly before raising a finger and saying, "I could help you. I have the lawyers and the resources. They could stay-"

Qrow cut him off with the wave of a hand and said, "Maybe you can, and if it comes to that I'll take you up on that offer. But you're her father. That counts for a lot more than a discount uncle. Plus, you've got more than enough money to support her, unlike me. I'm flattered and all that jazz, but Ruby needs someone better than me."

Ruby had developed an intense fixation with the floor as every eye in the room fell upon her. Qrow sighed and ruffled her hair before fixing Tony with a calculating stare.

"Look… I know this is a lot to take in. I know that I'm probably forcing this onto you. But, we don't really have any other options, and she is _your_ daughter. Please. We need you… _She_ needs you."

Tony worked his jaw for a few moments, and then nodded. Yang pulled Ruby in for a one-armed side hug and added, "By the way… I go where she goes."

Pepper smiled genuinely, although a little tightly, at the two of them before turning to Tony.

"Right… well then, you've given us a lot to think about. I suppose… Mr. Stark, would you walk with me? I'm just going to call up Dr. Shawcross about getting some blood work done. Oh, and I'll need those documents."

Qrow handed the folder containing Ruby's information to Pepper and then Tony wordlessly followed after Pepper's departing form. Yang watched them leave, before turning back to her plate and spearing a piece of beef.

"Well… That was a thing."

 **. . .**

Tony wiped a hand down his face and sighed heavily, barely hearing his secretary talking on the phone. How the hell had his life turned out like this?

"The Doctor will be here in half an hour." Pepper said as she hung up and turned to him. "Tony… look, I know it's a lot to take in, but-"

"I'll do it."

"What?"

Tony grimaced. "I'll do it… I'll adopt her."

Pepper blinked before saying, "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. I would've expected more resistance from you, Mr. Stark. You just never seemed like that kind of person."

Tony snorted and cracked his neck, watching Pepper out of the corner of his eye.

"Miss Potts, I've been called many things, but cruel isn't one of them. Though to be fair, I have been called vindictive, apathetic, and at times ruthless. Do those count as being of equal value on the spectrum?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to whack her boss upside the head.

"Tony… you know better than anyone that you aren't as much of a heartless monster as you pretend to be."

"Shush! You'll ruin my street cred."

"Mister Stark, I hate to break this to you, but you don't _have_ street cred. You've lived in a mansion your whole life."

Tony pursed his lips, wagged his finger, and said, "I bet five bucks that I've got more street cred than you do."

Pepper massaged her temples gently.

"Mister Stark, you should go back in there and keep your daughter company while we wait for Doctor Shawcross. And at least try to behave yourself."

Tony hummed in assent, before turning and leaving.

The scene he returned to was much the same as the one when he had left: two teen girls, a guy, a quadrupedal robot, a-wait… what?

Tony did a rather comical double-take. While he and Pepper had been talking, his visitors apparently had decided to go and retrieve one of Ruby's projects. Tony gave it a quick once over, taking in everything with the eyes of an experienced engineer. While it was fairly small, about the size of a corgi, the bot was impressively made; servos whirring, it was able to walk, jump, and clamber almost as well as a biological dog… ok, maybe not that well. It moved more like a three legged dog with a severe case of chronic arthritis, but for having been built by a thirteen year old, it was still very impressive.

"Who's a good boy, Zwei? Who's a good boy?"

Ruby was currently holding the bot's paws, talking to it in an obscenely cute manner that was causing Tony's masculinity to die a little bit inside from the sheer adorableness of the scene. Damn… he was going soft in his old age.

Yang and Qrow noticed Tony and each raised their chins in a California 'What's up' to him.

"So, this is Zwei. And she made it all by herself?"

Yang nodded, her golden mane moving in a sinuous wave.

"Yep. I helped a bit, mainly with the welding, but it's Ruby's baby. She designed it and built most of it from spare parts. Mom was… we weren't allowed to have a dog in the house. So, Ruby decided she'd build one instead."

Tony smirked at that, knowing that was exactly something he would do. He noticed the melancholy that had overcome Yang after mentioning her mother and frantically thought of something else to discuss.

"So… you're going to be staying here?"

Yang arched an eyebrow, and looked at Tony as if he had just suggested eating fish fingers with custard.

"I go where she goes, _Mister Stark_."

Tony mentally winced at the frosty tone in the girl's voice. Damn it, she was intimidating for a fifteen year old. Raising his hands to placate her, Tony said, "Just making sure. Look… if I'm being honest, I'm not exactly… father material."

Yang suppressed a snort.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, go ahead and laugh it up. It's just… this is all very sudden, alright? So…bear with me for now, okay Blondie. If I'm going to do this… I'm probably gonna screw some things up. Like, major fu… um… majorly."

Yang snorted for real this time and said, "Yeah, I'll bet. And," Yang paused, giving her sister's father an appraising look before remarking, "You get three strikes, then you're out. Deal?"

Tony nodded once and asked, "Baseball fan?"

"Naw, I'm more of a boxing and MMA girl really. It's just a good expression."

Tony nodded sagely.

"I don't actually follow any sports, besides the occasional race in Monaco, and that's only because I own the track."

Yang stared at Tony slack-jawed.

"You _own_ a _racetrack_!?"

Ruby looked over at the group of three and whispered to her robot, "What do you think they're talking about, Zwei? Yang seems very excited about something."

When the dog didn't respond, Ruby frowned and poked his head.

"Ohhhh riiiight… you still don't have a voice box. I'll need to get one of those. Think we can pick one up somewhere around here?"

. . .

While the doc was doing his thing with Ruby and Mister Stark-she wasn't going to be calling him _Dad_ anytime soon, if ever, although Pops did have a nice ring to it-Yang looked around the house. It really was a deluxe pad, even _if_ it did feel cold and unused. Tony lived alone at the house, after all; Yang supposed that with one person living in it, especially a person who wasn't even there all that often, the house was bound to be somewhat lifeless.

Strolling down a flight of stairs, Yang came up besides a row of glass windows which looked into a garage with-mother of all that was holy, was that a _hot rod_! Ok, maybe Pops wasn't so bad. And if she could get her own bike, she would be in heaven. Yang was practically drooling at the thought of maybe owning her own bike now that they were going to be living with Stark. Summer had never really approved of her daughter's obsession with all things fast and dangerous, and she'd forbidden her from owning her own motorbike.

The thought was savagely beaten back as quickly as it had come. Yeah, Tony might be able to afford a bike, and would probably let her get one, Yang thought, but he _wasn't_ _Summer_. He _wasn't_ _Supermom_. If someone offered her the chance to have Mom back the day they found out, Yang would have given almost anything. Even if she would have to quit being an adrenaline junky forever; a thousand awesome vehicles wouldn't be enough to make up for Supermom's absence.

Yang forcibly shoved the increasingly melancholic thoughts away and cracked her knuckles. She had to stay strong for Ruby. There wasn't time for such thoughts now.

Reaching out, Yang let her hand touch the glass momentarily, before a holographic control panel popped up from nowhere. Yang jerked her hand back as if burned before snorting at how ridiculous this whole day was turning out to be. Meeting Ruby's long lost biological dad, an actual AI, and now a holographic lockpad? What was this, Star Wars? Yang sniggered to herself, reveling in her brilliant moment.

"Excuse me, might I inquire as to what is so amusing?"

Yang jumped at the abrupt, artificial voice that emanated from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Sucking in a quick breath to steady the unsettled feeling in her stomach from being watched by an AI (Yang had seen all of the Terminator movies and was decidedly less enthusiastic about JARVIS than Ruby was), Yang adopted a defiant stance.

"None of your business, Ratchet and Clank. Could you give me some warning next time, it's already creepy enough knowing that you're watching me all the time."

"My sincerest apologies, Miss Xiao Long. As you will be staying with us from now on, Mister Stark has altered my parameters to include you in the 'resident' list, and thus, I will endeavor to comply with your wishes."

Yang blinked slowly, narrowed her eyes as she untangled JARVIS' formal speech, and then nodded.

"Alright, fine then. Just… don't do that anymore, alright 3PO?"

"Oh, yes, very good, Miss Xiao Long. I'm terribly sorry about all of that."

Yang gaped and burst out laughing when she realized that JARVIS had intentionally channeled the famous droid, even altering his voice to sound exactly like Anthony Daniels.

"Hahaha… ok, maybe you're not so bad after all."

"I aim to impress, Miss Xiao Long."

. . .

Upstairs, the doctor had finished up, giving his final verdict as the results from his portable genetic scanner rolled in; Ruby was, with 95 percent probability, Tony's daughter. That was more than enough to settle it in Tony's mind, and he bid the doctor goodbye.

Beside him, Ruby-his daughter, for sure now (really, really going to take a lot of time to get used to that)-was kicking her legs and generally looking adorably lost. He kinda wanted to give her a hug, though that was offset by the fact that he'd just met the girl a few hours ago. And he did not do hugs, for anyone, really. Let it be known to the court that Tony Stark was not a touchy-feely kinda guy. At all.

Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes. Suddenly, he felt a good deal older than forty. He could handle belligerent board members and prying paparazzi reporters, but a daughter? He was way out of his depth and he knew it. He'd need to have Pep's help. Probably Rhodey's as well, Rhodey had talked about his nephew or something a few times, so he knew how to deal with kids. Besides that… Tony grimaced. He hadn't thought about Obi. His dad's old friend would be pissed. It'd be best to keep him in the dark for now, Tony would tell him after the award ceremony in Vegas that was coming up in a few weeks. He'd be more pliable if Tony didn't cause any trouble at the ceremony, like he usually did.

"So uh…" Tony looked over at Ruby, who continued, saying, "So you're my da… you're my dad?"

"Yeah."

"And I can stay here. Right?"

Tony bit his lip. Damn, she was extremely cute. Like a puppy, if that puppy had big silver eyes and liked the color red. And also liked to build robots, which was awesomely cool. Really, if he had to have a daughter, what better than a cute, awesome Mini-me who was a crack engineer as well.

"Yeah. You can stay, if you want to. You… do, right?"

Ruby nodded, her fingers poking together.

"Do you… I don't know… wanna see my garage?"

A beatific smile burst across Ruby's face.

"Yes! Oh yes, I'd love to! What kinda stuff do you have down there?"

"Oh, just the usual. Some Audi's, a few old robots, a holographic projector or two, hot rods, a whole bunch of scrap parts, and a slew of other stuff."

As the two walked away, Ruby practically vibrating in excitement, Qrow watched them from the wall he was leaning on. He'd had his doubts, and to be fair, he still had a good number. But maybe… just maybe… Stark wouldn't be such a bad option after all.

If he turned out to be a jerk after all, Qrow could always kill him.

Qrow nodded to himself and began looking around the house, searching for some booze to 'liberate' from Stark's house.

* * *

A/N: Virtual cookie for everyone that got the Doctor Who reference.


	3. Chapter 3: Pure Distilled Awesomeness

See Chapter 1 for disclaimer. Also, just in case, please remember that this is an adopted story.

A/N: Hey Everyone! So, I would like to apologize to all of you because I have had this chapter finished and ready to go for about a month now and the only reason didn't update sooner is because I was attempting to wait for Z. R. Stein's thoughts on my changes. However I am sure that all of you will be happy to know that since Stein has been really busy and likely will continue to be so for a while so I am just going to start posting chapters as soon as possible and then go back and make edits if need be based off of whatever feedback Stein gives me after posting. I also would like mention that updates will in theory be faster for the chapters that already exist from the original since I discovered that I was wrong and that it is actually easier to use the mobile version of the site to copy and paste, and then make revisions instead of trying to type it all up.

Now to address some concerns about future events with the story:

First, in regards to cannon events from the first Iron Man movie, I would say spoilers if it wasn't for the fact that the two questions about that topic can be answered simply by looking at Z. R. Stein's original work.

Second, in regards to Infinity War, while I have a few ideas from seeing the movie all I will say is a) *spoilers* and b) we are far too early on in the story for me even to be at the point necessary to even have that planned out.

Third, as some who clearly haven't read Z. R. Stein's original work have guessed, yes there are events from cannon that will play out differently due to Tony being a dad. However I shall not discuss which events play out differently because in the Immortal words of River Song, "Shhh. Spoilers."

Fourth, in regards to pairings, I don't know who is going to be paired with Ruby at present time. I will not be putting up the poll for who she should be paired with until after the events of what will be Iron Man 2 for this story. Furthermore, at present time it is far too early to pair her with anyone since she is only 13 years old for crying out loud. I will in the future post a poll for who Ruby will be paired with and at that time and that time alone will you all the lovely readers decide who she will be paired with.

Now, before I forget **UltimateAvengers** and **Rorksen** both get a virtual cookie for getting the Doctor Who reference.

That should cover about everything. Now, enough chit-chat. Story time!

* * *

Chapter 3: Pure Distilled Awesomeness

* * *

"Pass the 20 millimeter wrench, short stack."

"You want the red one, with the adjustable prongs, or the blue one?"

"Red one. JARVIS, give me a rundown on the strength to weight ratio of these plates, will ya?"

"I calculate that they will be able to withstand a force of around four hundred pounds per square inch, sir, at their current weight."

Tony swept a hand over his face, and scowled at the contraption in his hand before saying, "Kinda fragile, don't ya think?"

Ruby swung her legs from where she was sitting on the table, her eyes running over the gadget as well. She tapped her chin for a moment, thinking.

"You know…we could use a tougher polymer. It'd add to the weight, but the servos would be able to take it, easily. At least, I think they should…"

Tony considered it for a moment before commenting, "Good idea. Hey, Butterfingers, go get some of the polypropylene out of the storage closet. Make sure to get some of the good stuff. Anyways… what else?"

Ruby hummed, her brow scrunched up, before she snapped her fingers.

"Oh, how about the eyes? A small LED array, maybe."

"Hey, what are you two nerds doing down here?" Yang called out as she came through the door of the garage, Pepper right behind her. The secretary had a strange look on her face, as if she was proud of and exasperated with her boss at the same time. Tony looked up and pointed at the blonde with his wrench, wearing a serious expression.

"I prefer the term 'genius.' 'Pure, distilled awesomeness,' works as well."

Ruby hopped off of the table and crossed her arms, striking a pose.

"Yeaaah."

Tony reached behind him and Ruby slapped his open hand, while his lips twitched in suppressed amusement. Pepper face palmed, muttering into her hand "Only you, Tony. Only you can find out you had a daughter, and in a single day already have her acting as your minion and a walking punch-line."

Gasping dramatically, Ruby directed a mock glare at the ginger with narrowed silver eyes.

"I am _not_ a minion! _I_ am an Executive Assistant, Super First Class Plus One!"

Pepper's face remained in her hand, while Tony just grinned like a maniac. Yang began sniggering.

"Come up with that yourself, sis?"

"Nope, that was me," interjected Tony, "Well actually, it was a joint kinda thing. Indisputably, it was a collaborative effort between two great minds. Cuz ya know, assistant just isn't official enough for the kid that's has been handing me tools and giving occasional good insight for the past… what time is it anyways?"

Pepper sighed and removed her face from hand before responding, "It's nearly Eleven O'clock."

Tony blinked, blinked again, and asked, "Eleven O'clock? At night?"

Pepper smiled wryly and said, "Yes Tony. At night. You two have been in here for the past six hours. I believe it's time for Miss…. Rose, to go to bed. We have a lot to discuss tomorrow."

Ruby pouted before Yang took her hand and started pulling her towards the exit of the garage.

"Come on, Ruby. I'll show you to our room. Pep already gave me the tour. You have got to see the view…"

The voices of the two girls faded away as they left the room, and Pepper smiled at Tony.

"That was a sweet thing you did."

Tony turned away and sniffed, picking up the thing that he and Ruby had been working on.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"This project. Usually at this time of night, you'd be working on your cars or looking up a party to go to. If you were in a particular mood, well… but instead, you're here, working on… what exactly is that, anyway?"

Tony held it up for her to see. It was a small, four legged structure, its hydraulic limbs exposed to the elements. Wires crisscrossed across the structure in a messy fashion, while soldering marks were clear on much of the surface. Tony had a small smile on his face as he looked at it, which did not go unnoticed by Pepper.

"After seeing that little bot she made… I dunno. I offered to improve it. It was good for her age, but the kid needs some more experience. What better place to… ya know." Tony shrugged, still not looking at Pepper, who smiled and replied, "Mmmm… a garage as well equipped as yours is the perfect place to learn, Mister Stark."

Tony grunted and set the unfinished bot down while his secretary nodded. She cleared her throat after a moment and said, "Well, I've got her and her sister set up in one of the guest rooms… the one overlooking the north part of the shore, if you're wondering. Mister Branwen…" Pepper scowled before she continued, "Apparently, he's taken it upon himself to sample your stock, and is currently drinking his way through his second bottle of whiskey."

JARVIS suddenly called down from the ceiling, "If I may, Mister Branwen has finished the whiskey. He is now sampling some of your wine. When I asked him to stop consuming your alcoholic beverages, he performed a rude gesture and told me to, in his words, 'fuck off, HAL'. All of the locks have now been engaged on the refrigerators and wine racks."

Tony giggled and asked, "Did he try to open them? Please tell me you told him, 'I'm sorry, I can't let you do that'. Please."

"You programmed me, sir. Of course I did."

Tony began snickering like a three year old, while Pepper just rolled her eyes at her boss' antics.

"I've got to be on my way home. Will that be all, Mister Stark?"

"That will be all, Miss Potts."

Pepper nodded and turned on her heel, though she stopped after a few steps and turned back around, her eyes contemplative.

"You're doing a fine job with her so far Tony. Just… try not to screw things up. You don't really get second chances at being a good father."

. . .

Tony crept out of the garage half an hour later, his feet leading him to the bar that the only other male in the house was sitting at. Qrow had an empty tumbler in hand and was absently spinning it on its corner, his gaze focused on the waves outside of the window. The lights were all off, the only illumination being the light from the stars outside. He didn't turn his head when Stark walked into the room, merely saying, "You've got some good booze."

Tony opened the cooler and withdrew a bottle. He set it on the counter and opened it, his own eyes attracted to the same view that Qrow was observing.

"You try any of the vodka yet? I was just going to… kinda my late night drink. If you want…"

Qrow waved his hand in dismissal, his words slurring slightly together as he said, "Nah, HAL was right to cut me off. 'Sides, I never did like vodka much. Way too many potatoes in it. An' no real taste."

Tony shrugged and poured himself a shot.

"Suit yourself."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes before Qrow heaved a sigh and focused his attention on the glass in his hand.

"I'm a SEAL, y'know? Have been for years. Course being in a platoon that is part of a special task force headed up by an Army brigadier general means the brass see fit to label me and my fellow SEALs as 'soldiers' instead of 'seamen.' Anyway, it's probably about time I retired… getting too old to keep up with the recruits. But… part of me doesn't want to. Retiring just isn't in my character, know what I'm saying, Tony?"

Tony nodded slowly, not really knowing where the conversation was going. He had surreptitiously looked up Qrow while in the garage with Ruby (although given the nature of the aforementioned task force, Tony had been forced to discreetly hack a few databases to do so), and had been impressed by what he'd found. Qrow had done multiple missions in hot zones around the planet, though his last mission had been months ago in Libya. Privately, Tony wondered if that was where Summer had died.

Qrow, not aware of Tony's thoughts, continued on, "These kids though… I'd retire for em in a heartbeat. Hell, there ain't a lot I wouldn't do for em. I dunno if bringing them here was a good idea… hell, even after meeting you I'm still not sure, maybe less sure. Y'know what I'm sayin' Stark?"

Tony clicked his tongue and finished off his glass before saying, "Yeah. Not a lot of faith in me, huh?"

Qrow snorted and turned towards Tony.

"It's not that. You haven't messed up or anything yet, and I can tell you're trying. It's just… this is gonna take a lot of work, Stark. You can't half-ass this. You can't say you're gonna adopt her and then not follow through, and you can't treat her like a machine. She's a good kid, they both are. And they're gonna need you to be there for em. Not stuffed away in some boarding school halfway across the country."

"I wouldn't do that. I would _never_ do that." Tony's grip around his glass tightened, memories of Howard coming to mind. Qrow nodded amiably, standing up from his chair and slipping an arm clumsily around Tony's shoulders.

"Good man, that's _exactly_ what I want to hear. Just take care of little Rosey and Firecracker and everything will be fine."

Qrow's grip suddenly tightened considerably, and Tony huffed in discomfort and surprise. Qrow leaned his face closer to Tony's, his eyes seemingly taking on a crimson colour.

"Just know that if you do end up hurting her, or either of them for that matter, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

Qrow suddenly released Tony and began toddling off, swaying from side to side as he looked for a couch to crash on.

"G'night, Stark. Sweet dreams."

Tony stared at his guest's departing form for a few seconds before sitting down, and pouring himself another drink. It was going to be a long night.

. . .

The next day, the sun rose bright and early, rousing Ruby from her sleep. Blinking her eyes, the young teen stretched and looked around at the room, briefly wondering why the hotel they were staying at was so nice. After a moment, her eyes popped fully open, and she collapsed back on the bed with a goofy smile on her face.

Her dad was actually nice. Like, really, really, _really_ , super-duper nice; although, he tended to be a bit awkward at times. Still, that was understandable; Ruby herself thought that she'd been far more awkward towards him. Except for when they were working together on Zwei 2.0, which had been amazing! She didn't know why Mom had never told her about him, because Tony was awesome!

The thought of Summer halted that train of thought pretty quickly, and the smile slipped off of Ruby's face. Months later and she still felt torn up, like all of the joy in her life had been stripped away. Sure, there were bright spots every now and then, but it was as if a small part of her had been lost when she'd heard that Supermom was gone forever, a part that she could never get back.

Sniffling, Ruby sat up in bed and looked around, searching for something to distract her. The room was rather fancy, if a little plain. The walls were white and unadorned by any posters or pictures, and the only furniture in the room was the two beds and a desk and chair. Everything was modern, sleek and clean, but the space lacked any form of personality. It made sense; guest rooms weren't usually decorated very extravagantly. Looking around, Ruby began stroking her chin, mind suddenly occupied by thinking about how she wanted to decorate the room. There was a lot of potential here…

Ten minutes later, Yang was shaken out of sleep by her sister, who had an excited spark in her eye.

"Yang? Yang, wake up!"

Groaning, the blonde removed her head from her pillow and looked at the clock before glaring balefully at her sister. She then burrowed back in to the bed, seeking to go back to sleep.

"It's seven thirty in the freaking morning. Why are you up so early, Rubes?"

Ruby bounced on the edge of the bed, looking excited. She pulled the covers off of Yang's head and responded, "Sun woke me up, but that's not important. I need you to help me plan the room. Please? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

Yang yawned and sat up, giving in to the inevitable. If she didn't, she knew that Ruby would keep on going until Yang's will broke. Not that her will ever lasted very long before her sister's infamous puppy dog eyes.

"Plan? What do you mean? Like, furniture and stuff?"

Ruby nodded, still bouncing. Yang placed a hand on her knee, stopping her, before she looked around the room. She'd thought some about it last night, but it hadn't exactly been a priority.

"Well… first, I think we should get some new paint up in here if Tony lets us. Plain white is so… boring."

"Ditto."

"Maybe we could do yellow?"

"Red."

"Yellow."

"Red!"

"Yellow!"

"RED!"

"YELLOW!"

" **RED!"**

Yang looked about ready to shout even louder before she stopped and at a normal volume said, "Actually… how about a nice dark blue. It'd go well with the ocean view. Peace?"

Ruby's face scrunched up in thought briefly before she nodded.

"I suppose that's fine. Oooh! Oooh! We could even have a mural or something of ocean waves, that'd be cool. I was also thinking we could add in some bookcases as well… like, twelve or something."

"Nerd."

Ruby's cheeks puffed out in annoyance. Yang laughed before throwing a pillow at her head, the fluffy projectile smacking her sister in the face and nearly sending her careening off the bed.

"No need to look like that, sis. What else… oh, how about some posters and stuff? I have an Achieve Men poster in the car, but we can go out and buy some new ones-"

Ruby jumped up and shouted "Oh! That's right, I have some Star Wars posters and figurines in the Mustang, and my Gundam and Doctor Who collections! I should go get those now!"

Ruby dashed out of their room, leaving behind an amused and still somewhat sleepy Yang. She snuggled back into the covers, and in an affectionate voice softly murmured, "Nerd."

. . .

Two hours later found everyone awake in some fashion. Pepper arrived at the mansion at nine to drag Tony out of bed, and he was nursing a cup of black coffee in the kitchen. Qrow was draped over a nearby sofa, eyes bleary and red as he waited for his own cup to brew. Ruby was at a coffee table, happily unpacking her collection of figurines, collectibles, and other trinkets, making sure none of them were broken in any way. Yang was poking her uncle with her finger every few minutes, trying to get a reaction; apparently she found it amusing to mess with the man.

Pepper shook her head at the sight and set down several plastic containers.

"Here's some breakfast I picked up from a café down the road. Tony, you especially need to eat up, you have a full schedule today. Financial briefings, two factory inspections, and then at three you have a meeting with Obadiah."

Tony took a long sip and put the cup down, sighing.

"Obi say what he wants?"

Pepper tapped a few buttons on her tablet before replying, "He wanted to go over some last minute details about the Apogee award ceremony in Vegas. Which is in two and a half weeks, if you remember."

Tony rolled his eyes and muttered an uncomplimentary comment under his breath about award ceremonies, then set about attacking his breakfast. Ruby, her collection fully unpacked, zoomed to the table and began eating as well, stealing the occasional glance at the man who was her father.

Working up her courage, Ruby eventually asked, "Soooo… what are we doing? I mean… Uncle Qrow, and Yang, and me?"

Pepper smiled encouragingly at Ruby before handing Qrow his cup of caffeine.

"Well… I suppose that it's up to your Uncle what you three do for the day, but I was thinking that you could go shopping, find anything you might need, that sort of thing. The adoption papers won't be finalized for another few days, even with all of Mister Stark's resources, and schooling is… well, it's off the table until you get settled. Nothing too pressing to do today."

Qrow, looking marginally more alert with some coffee in him, chimed in with "Thanks, Miss Potts. Considering all we have with us are the bags that I brought in the Mustang, that'd be a hell of a good idea."

Pepper nodded and said, "Oh, and all expenses will be paid by Mister Stark. Within reason; I think we'd prefer it if you didn't go off and buy a Lamborghini without consulting us first."

Qrow chuckled, while Yang sighed dreamily at the thought of buying a car like that. Ruby laughed a bit before raising her hand; Tony spotted her and snorted.

"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"

Ruby winced and shrunk in on herself, while Tony cleared his throat uncomfortably, mentally hitting himself for his overactive mouth.

"What were you gonna ask, short stack?"

In a small voice Ruby said, "Well, umm… I was just gonna ask, is it ok if we buy some paint and furniture and stuff? I was talking with Yang this morning about decorating the room and I… ya know…"

Tony resisted the urge to hug the adorable little girl in front of him, his lips quirking into a grin. Damn kid was way too cute.

"If you're gonna be living here, I don't see why not. I'll even do you one better, send Happy with you; he knows his way around the area. Anywhere you need to go, he can take you there. Or guide you, if you're taking your own car."

Ruby perked up and nodded, no longer quite as meek as she previously was. Yang mentally moved her opinion of Stark up a notch; for all the man's flaws, it seemed that he was actually trying to be a decent father, despite the suddenness of his promotion to one. Qrow grinned into his coffee cup, remembering the threat he'd made and wondering if it was part of the reason why Stark was acting so respectably.

Tony himself suddenly found himself looking forwards to the future financial briefings. As dull as they were, they would at least be less stressful than trying to deal with this.


	4. Chapter 4: Books, Wheels, Boxing, Oh My!

A/N: Hello again everyone! I am sorry because I was going to post this like a week ago but then I had to do research on boxing so I could improve the boxing scene in this chapter because it felt too short. Also, a virtual cookie goes to anyone that can figure out the reference in the chapter title. Now, it is time to address the questions/comments/concerns from last chapter's reviews.

Reviews:

To Guest, the title of chapter 1 was both a Game of Thrones reference and coincidence because I noticed the coincidence of the same surname and could not help but to take advantage and make the reference.

To **LogicalFallacies** , Thanks for the suggestion, although I feel like tony would give Ruby more than just the basics.

To **JAM8** , if I understand the question correctly, the reason I do not copy and paste from the desktop version of FFN instead of using a work around so that I am viewing and copying and pasting from the mobile version is that the site will not let you copy and paste from the desktop version of the site.

To **Espada-001** , I realize you will probably think of me as a heathen for this, but I watched season 1 of RvB a few years ago but then never got around to watching on beyond that. So, point is I didn't even realize Stein was using names of characters from RvB for the soldiers in that scene and in fact I was under the impression those were the names used during that scene in the movie. Knowing that the names were in fact from RvB, I will make sure to use the names from the movie for the humvee scene.

To **Dreaddragonknight** , I am not quite sure what you are trying to get at with Tony's age, but if he does seem aged up, that probably is linked to the maths of how old Tony would need to be in order for Ruby being 13 and having Tony and Summer's… ahem… 'fun time' be legal and not seem weird due to an age gap to work. As for other RWBY characters being in this story, there will be plenty of other characters in this story, although I can not say which ones other than the ones Stein used in his version because *Spoilers.*

To **Raraiki** , **GravityWaver** , and everyone else, first I am giving you all a friendly reminder that the poll we be put up after the Iron Man 2 arc of this story is over and I kindly ask that you all take a chill pill because it feels like you all are a little **_TOO_** eager to find out who I will be pairing a 13 year old girl with. Second, as a precaution for in the event that the result of the poll is that Ruby will be paired with Spidey, Peter Parker will be the same age as Ruby and will be introduced either just before or during the Avengers 1 arc so that a romantic relationship between the two wouldn't be illegal due to them having an age gap that has Ruby as an adult and Peter as a minor. Third, a pairing between Ruby and Shuri sounds really interesting and I will make sure to include it in the poll, in spite of both the fact that I feel like with their personalities Ruby and Shuri are the type of people whom after meeting would either become the best of friends or worst of enemies, as well as them likely getting off to a rocky start due to Shuri potentially having the impression of 'Oh, great another arrogant Stark who thinks that they are heaven's gift to mankind' long before Shuri even meets Ruby. If there are characters that you believe are underappreciated and you want to see them be paired with Ruby, then please leave suggestions of characters to include in the poll and I will make sure to include them in the poll. Also, I have recently been entertaining the idea of using the pairing decided by the poll as a temporary thing and then at some point between Civil War and Infinity War make it so that Ruby's endgame pairing is with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Now, of course if I end up using Black Widow as Ruby's endgame pairing I will obviously age her down a bit so that the age difference isn't so large. Let me know what all of you guys think of that idea, because if you all hate it I won't do it, but if the majority of you like it I will do it.

Now enough chit-chat. Story Time!

* * *

Chapter 4: Books, and Wheels, and Boxing, Oh My!

* * *

"Get back here! Suffer the wrath of Xiao Long!"

"Waaahhh, Tony, save meee!"

"Woah there, watch the paint rollers, short stack!"

The scene that Pepper walked in on was one that would have caused even the most jaded of individuals to smile. Ruby was running around the room, bouncing off the walls as she attempted to stay one step ahead of her sister, who had a long blue streak covering one side of her face. Tony seemed to be playing damage control, though the amount of paint splattering the walls didn't speak well of his ability to do so. All three were supposed to be in the middle of painting the girls' new room (they had insisted on doing it themselves, not being used to having access to the same wealth as Tony had his whole life. Tony relented not long afterwards, caving like a cheap piece of cardboard before Ruby's puppy dog eyes™), but at the rate they were going, they wouldn't be done for a few more hours.

"Mister Stark?" Pepper called out to her boss. Tony turned his attention to his assistant, a goofy smile on his paint speckled face.

"Hey Pepper. You should join us. You can hold the short one down while we color her blue."

A radiant smile burst out onto Yang's face, and she gave Tony a thumbs up, while Ruby wailed in despair.

"Have you no heart! My own family, turning against me! Pepper, don't let them take me alive!"

It had been three days since Ruby and Yang had moved in. In that time, there had been several awkward moments between Tony and his recently acquired daughters, but the two parties were slowly starting to become acclimated to each other. It helped that all three of them were enormous kids at heart. If Tony had been anything like Howard, Pepper knew that things wouldn't have turned out so well. As it was, Tony was still on his best behavior, a fact which Pepper was internally and eternally grateful for. Not having to deal with harlots and bimbos on a weekly basis was a refreshing change of pace. In fact, Tony had gone so far as to ask the girls' scraggly uncle for ideas on presents to get for the two (Qrow had left on day two, with a promise to be back in six days).

The presents were ready, and they were the reason why Pepper had intruded on her bosses attempt at home decorating.

"Tony? That thing you ordered came today."

Tony's eyes sharpened, and he cast a surreptitious glance at Yang and Ruby.

"That thing? The uh... the one with wheels or the books?"

"Both of them are waiting in the garage. Happy just dropped them off a minute ago."

Yang halted her attempt at painting her whining sibling to cock her head at the two adults, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"What thing with wheels?"

Tony's smirk only served to fuel Yang's interest, enough that she let go of Ruby, who seemed to be doing her best William Wallace impression. Ruby moaned pitifully and crawled away, grumbling under her breath about 'traitors' and 'eternal revenge'. Tony stifled a chuckle of amusement at the predicament his daughter had found herself in (still weird saying that, but he was slowly getting used to the idea. Hell, he was even beginning to like it).

"Clean yourselves up and come find out. I'd prefer it if the Highlanders didn't invade my workshop today."

Yang rolled her eyes and started dragging Ruby to the bathroom to scrub the paint off of their bodies and change their clothes.

Tony and Pepper left the room, stopping only for Tony to replace his own wardrobe with clean garments. They spoke in low tones while they waited for the two to come to the staircase that led down to the garage.

"Have you told Obadiah yet?"

"No… nor Rhodey, for that matter."

Pepper gave her boss a look.

"He's going to find out eventually, Tony. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't already. Rhodey needs to know as well."

"I know. I just... Obi's not going to take this well. You know how he is about things going according to plan. Remember Monte Carlo?"

Pepper sighed and kneaded her forehead.

"Part of me wants to forget Monte Carlo. Just promise me that you'll tell them soon. It'll go better if Obadiah finds out from you and not some other source."

Tony placed a hand over his heart and said, "Of course I will. Promise. Cross my heart."

The two girls appeared from the hallway, cutting off any further conversation. Tony plastered a huge grin onto his face, though it looked far less forced than most of the grins Pepper had seen him wear over the years. She smiled to herself; the girls had managed to find the cracks in his cynical shell with remarkable swiftness. It was adorable seeing how much little Ruby had him wrapped around her finger.

Tony clapped his hands together and said "Ok, so I'm going to come clean to you guys. I talked to your uncle before he left about something very special, a way of saying 'welcome to the awesomest place this side of Disneyworld' or something like that. If you two are gonna be living here, you gotta be up to code on awesomeness or you'll end up like Pepper here. A Debbie Downer who sucks all the fun out of the area, and no one wants that."

Ruby giggled, practically bouncing in place from excitement, while Yang couldn't help but feel a stir of anticipation as well.

"And so, that is why, I have decided to give the two of you something that will qualify you to live at Stark mansion. And uh... if you don't like them make sure to blame your uncle, not me."

Pepper sighed fondly at Tony's manner of presentation. Despite his newly found urge to spoil his daughters, he felt the need to dress it up as a joke, not being comfortable enough yet to just say that he was giving them gifts. Pepper hoped he'd be able to move beyond it eventually, but for now, it would suffice.

The two girls ran down the stairs, Ruby pulling into the lead easily. The door slid open as they approached and they dashed into the garage ahead of Pepper and Tony. Their attention was immediately drawn to two large packages, one red and one yellow.

"Woah, slow down there short stack! Wait for us!" Tony called out from behind the two. Ruby eyed her package and bit her lip, stamping down on the urge to tear paper and bow like a rabid wolverine.

Tony and Pepper caught up within moments, Happy appearing as well with a camera in his hands. The driver/bodyguard/whatever else Tony required had taken quite the shine to Ruby and Yang, and had offered to spar with Yang after she had let slip that she enjoyed boxing. The first match was scheduled to take place later in the evening, and both were looking forwards to it.

"Ugh, you're so slow! Can we open them now pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeaaaaaase?"

Tony's grin widened and he said, "Alright, you can go first short stack."

Ruby pumped her fist into the air and sped to the box. Tony blinked, and between one moment and the next, the entirety of the wrapping paper was gone and the thirteen year old was lifting the lid of the box. She squealed at what she saw and dove inside, bringing out a handful of books.

" _Advanced Engineering Mathematics Volume 1, Programming for Dummies, The Science of Robotics_! Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

Yang groaned and shook her head.

"You got her a box full of _math books_? That's so lame, Tony."

A flying mass of paper whacked Yang in the head, whom turned to glare at her sister. Tony and Pepper stifled their amusement at the scene while Happy snapped a few pictures before leaving to another part of the garage. Ruby whistled innocently before squealing again as she saw something else in the box.

"The complete collection of Timothy Zahn novels! I've been wanting this ever since I first read the Thrawn Trilogy!"

Tony smirked at Yang and remarked, "Not just math books. There's a bunch of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and other novels in there, even some manga, as well as some historical and architectural stuff. Qrow told me that Ruby didn't own most of the books she read... so I thought... y'know... this way she doesn't have to go to the library all the time." Tony sniffed and turned his head to the side. Yang added on another tally point to Tony's list while Ruby launched herself at her father in a flying tackle hug. Tony cleared his throat, awkwardly standing there, not really attempting to hug back. Ruby let go after a moment and backed away, rubbing the back of her head, the bouncy girl from before replaced by a shy, young child.

"Erm... sorry. I just got really excited is all. I love books."

Tony coughed and nodded, still vaguely uneasy from the hug. Though Ruby and he got along well, there hadn't been much physical contact between the two.

"Nah, it's fine short stack. So you do like it?"

And just like that, the bouncy girl was back.

"Yes! I love it, thank you so much! As soon as we're done painting the room we can set up the bookshelves and I can read all of them! Oh, so much to do! I'm going to get back to painting!"

With that, the girl sped off, a blur of crimson that disappeared after a second. Tony wondered if he should get her checked out by a psychiatrist, the kid had to have some kind of hyperactive disorder.

Yang laughed at her sister's antics before turning to her own package. She tore the wrapping paper off much more slowly, though with no less enthusiasm. Opening the box lid, she beheld... nothing? No, there was something in the box. It was another, much smaller box. Yang picked it up and hefted it in her hands, raising an eyebrow at Tony.

"What, the nerd gets that big box of books and I get this? A girl can't help but feel a little shortchanged."

Tony's smirk returned full force, as if he knew something she didn't. Yang scowled and turned back to the little box, opening it as well. Upon seeing what was inside, her hands started shaking.

It was a keychain, with a solitary key on it.

"Is this... what I think it is?"

Tony smiled as Happy returned, wheeling a motorcycle to where Yang was standing.

"You'll need to get a license, obviously, so you won't get to ride on it properly for a little while. But, well... Qrow told me how much you've been wanting one, and I've gotta admit, bikes are pretty badass. Go ahead and take a look at it... it's yours."

Yang approached the bike reverently, taking her time. It was a thing of beauty; flowing lines that rose and fell like an ocean wave, rendering the bike smooth and aerodynamic. It was painted orange and yellow, the two colours blending together until the bike seemed to glow with its own inner light. A hefty motor was mounted underneath the seat, painted matte black. Yang stroked the handlebars, not entirely sure that it was real.

"If you don't like it we can always trade it for a different one; Qrow said you had a thing for Japanese bikes. And I know that-"

"It's perfect."

Tony was cut off as for the second time that day, one of his daughters hugged him. This time though, Yang didn't let go after a few seconds. Tony hesitantly placed his arms around the blonde girl, not entirely sure how to react to the contact. Yang and he had had even less bonding time than he'd had with Ruby. The two of them had mostly traded quips and barbs over the past few days, acting more like acerbic acquaintances rather than family (something Tony was much more accustomed to). Now though... Yang was acting like he was her father. Which of course was even stranger, Tony thought, considering that he wasn't related to her by blood.

Yang backed away after a few more seconds and wiped away some moisture from her eyes.

"Thank you... dad."

Tony froze up as Yang jogged off to find Ruby. Pepper placed a hand on his shoulder, concern and pride for her boss mixing together in her head.

"Tony?"

"Uhhh…"

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"You did good today."

Tony nodded sharply, wiped a hand over his face and sniffed.

"Right... uh... right. Yeah. Just gotta go uh... do a thing. I promised Rhodey I'd go visit him at the airfield today."

"Remember your promise, Tony."

"Yeah yeah... see you later."

Pepper watched her boss walk off, hoping that he did not get into too much trouble while he was away.

. . .

Airman Colonel James Rupert Rhodes waggled a finger in his ear and turned back to his long time friend to say, "Woah, say that again. I could've sworn you just said that you've got kids now and you didn't tell me immediately."

Tony scratched his cheek and said, "In my defense, I only found out about and got them three days ago. I was planning to tell you soon, I just... it's been kinda hectic."

Rhodey snorted and shook his head at his companion.

"I don't believe you. Kids? The great big bachelor Tony Stark? Who was it? Would I even remember her, Tony?"

"Maybe. That Navy SEAL we met in Switzerland? The one you were flirting with before I showed up?"

"The cute one with silver eyes? Seriously?"

"Yep." Tony popped the 'p' as the two friends walked across the airfield together. Rhodey shook his head in amazement.

"Man, you gotta be kidding me. That is the last time I act as your wingman at a conference. Wait, hold on a second, you said 'kids'. As in, more than one? How the hell do you have more than one?"

Tony winced and turned his head away.

"She was married at the time. The older one isn't mine."

Rhodes shook his head again and looked at Tony disapprovingly. The genius threw up his hands in defense.

"Yeah, probably not my best decision, but I was kinda drunk at the time I hit on her. We did stay together for the week that we were in Switzerland."

"So what... you're gonna adopt them?"

"Already did. The papers should be finalized by tomorrow."

Rhodey sighed and let out a weak laugh.

"Only you would do something crazy like this, Tony. So... what're they like?"

"Well... the younger one, Ruby, is great, she's like a little Mini-Me. She loves engineering and robotics; she actually built her own robot. I mean, how cool is that? She's into Star Wars, anime, and manga, and she likes to build in the workshop with me. Way better than Butterfingers at handing me stuff, by the way. And damn, she's smart. A proper little genius, that one. Kinda shy though... well, she bounces back and forth between shyness and being hyperactive. I made Pepper swear to never feed her sugar."

Rhodey snorted and asked, "How'd that work out for you?"

"...she was eating cookies not long after that. But at least she didn't eat enough for a sugar rush... damn, she'd be like a Looney Toon if that happened."

Rhodey hummed, a smile creeping its way onto his lips at the tone Tony was using. It seemed that the little girl had wound her way into Tony's heart after only three days. He had to meet this girl and see if they could weaponize her; the ability to crack open Tony's shell with such ease was an ability to be feared and respected. That was some nuclear grade cuteness, right there.

"What about the other one?"

Rhodey noticed how Tony stiffened, a strange look coming over his face.

"She's... Yang's great as well. A boxer. Happy's over the moon that he's got someone to spar with, even if it's a fifteen year old girl. Though to be fair, that girl's got guns like an MMA fighter. I swear she's hiding a six pack underneath her shirt. And... yeah."

Rhodey raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's up, buttercup? I know you well enough to see when something's bothering you. Something wrong with Yang?"

"She called me dad today."

Rhodey's face cleared and he said, "Oh. How'd that go?"

Tony shrugged, seemingly agitated.

"I just sorta... froze up. I don't... I can't... I'm not used to this kinda stuff, ya' know? How the hell am I supposed to deal with touchy feely kids... my kids? I never... I mean... I hadn't planned on being a father... and I'm trying, I really am. It's just… I'm afraid of screwing up and-"

Rhodey put a hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed encouragingly.

"Look, man, I don't have much experience with this either, but you seem to be doing a good job so far from what you've told me. You want my advice? Just try to take things as they come and if you do mess up, make up for it. Besides, Pepper's helping you out, right? She'll make sure that you don't do anything too stupid... hopefully."

Tony's lips quirked, mirroring Rhodey's grin.

"So when do I get to meet them?"

"If you wanna come by tonight, I can guarantee you front row seats to the Hogan vs. Xiao Long grudge match. No bringing popcorn though, you'll have to buy that from me."

. . .

"JARVIS, don't bother me for the next ten minutes or so, this is important. Ahem... **and now, the main event of the evening**!"

Tony stood at the edge of the boxing ring, his voice echoing throughout the workout room of Stark Mansion, amplified by the speakers connected to the microphone in his hand. Inside the ring, Happy bounced on his toes in the red corner, while Yang was stretching out her arms in the blue corner. Ruby, Pepper, Rhodey and Zwei sat on the sidelines, hooting and hollering for their separate teams; Ruby was obviously rooting for Yang, while Rhodey and Pepper had decided to support Happy. Tony was remaining neutral, in the interest of fairness, though part of him wanted Yang to win.

" **Introducing the challenger,** ** _fighting_** **out of the blue corner**!"

"Oh, get on with it, Tony!" yelled Pepper.

Tony grumbled under his breath about 'stealing his thunder,' but raised a hand. He let it drop after a moment and yelled out " **Fight**!"

Yang and Happy touched gloves and began circling each other. Yang was the first to throw a punch, aiming a right jab at Happy who ducked out of the way, only to have to dodge a right cross. Happy then retaliated with a flurry of right jabs followed by a left uppercut under Yang's guard. She grunted in annoyance at their lack of power and smashed Happy in the face with a right jab before backing away slightly.

"I told you not to pull your punches Hogan!"

Happy shook his head slightly before resuming the fight, hitting harder now that he knew Yang could handle it.

Ruby pumped her arms in the air and waved a little flag which read 'Team Yang' on it. It was nauseatingly adorable.

Back in the ring, Yang was hard pressed to keep up with the more experienced boxer. Deciding to take a risk, Yang tried a combo of a left jab followed by a right cross then a left hook to the body and finishing with another right cross, only to have Happy counter by blocking the left hook and then throw a right cross. Yang then went on the defensive making sure to block or counter all of Happy's combos. After being backed into a corner, Yang went on the offensive, weaving left, then right, and then back again as she began throwing haymakers, forcing Happy to guard. Her Dempsey Roll came to an end when Happy caught her off guard by countering with a fast jab, disrupting her concentration. Yang fell not long afterwards to the cheers of Rhodey and Pepper.

Ruby wailed, "Nooooo Yang! How could you lose?! I owe Pepper twenty dollars now!"

Happy offered Yang a hand, which she gladly took. The older man bumped gloves with her again, a broad smile on his face.

"I gotta say kid, you put up a good fight for a fifteen year old. That was one helluva Dempsey Roll."

Yang smiled back, trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks, I've been working on that for months. I guess you win. Until next time, that is."

Happy chuckled and held Yang's hand up with his own to the applause of the small crowd. Tony clapped enthusiastically, eyes fixed on his daughter's grin. A movement behind her drew his gaze though, and Tony's clapping halted.

"Congratulations, young lady. I didn't know Tony was hosting boxing lessons these days."

Obadiah Stane stood on the opposite side of the ring, hands behind his back. Though he had a grandfatherly smile fixed on his face, Tony could tell by the tightness of his eyes and jaw that it was a facade. He clearly hadn't expected to find this at all when he had dropped by for an impromptu visit.

Tony paled as he thought of all the ways this could go to shit.


	5. Chapter 5: The Truth and Reconciliation

A/N: Hello everyone! Surprise! The next chapter is here and right on the heels of the last one. Now, I must say that in hindsight, Natasha being paired with Ruby was a terrible idea from the get-go, especially since Natasha would be far more likely to be the cool aunt like she is for Clint's daughters in Age of Ultron; so I have axed that idea and tossed it out the window and into a boiling volcano. So, whoever is decided to be paired with Ruby by the poll will be her endgame pairing. Also, it has occurred to me that waiting until after the Iron Man 2 arc to do the poll is actually a bad idea because then I will have considerably limited the time I have to set things up for the pairing decided by the poll. So, now is the time to make your suggestions and ideas for who to include in the poll be known because I will compile the list of all potential pairings and include that list along with short descriptions about the lesser known characters in the author's note for next chapter after which point I will put up the poll.

Also, virtual cookie for anyone who gets the reference in the chapter title.

Now, enough chit-chat! Story Time!

* * *

Chapter 5: The Truth and Reconciliation

* * *

Ruby stood off to the side of the boxing ring, studying the new arrival. She wondered who the man was; was there a reason Tony had never mentioned him?

The man stepped forwards, eyes fixed on her dad (it felt nice to call someone dad. She'd never been able to do that before). Tony himself looked uncomfortable.

"Didn't know you were dropping by, Obi."

"Just felt like popping in for a visit. I haven't seen much of you these past few days, my boy."

Tony grimaced, his eyes flicking over to Yang and Ruby. Obadiah followed his gaze and frowned.

"Care to fill me in, Tony? Introduce me to these young ladies?"

"Uh... in my defense, I was going to tell you soon... ish. Uh... right. Anyway." Tony mumbled to himself. He scratched the back of his head, winced, then clapped his hands together before saying, "No time like the present, I guess. Obi, meet Ruby and Yang. They're uh... my... y'know... mine. My kids."

The older man raised his eyebrows and turned his attention to the sisters. He glanced back and forth between them, sizing them up. After a moment, he turned back to Tony, eyes sharp and unsatisfied.

"You have kids."

Tony winced again; it wasn't a question. He'd known Obi for decades and knew his moods quite well. The man might not seem it on the surface, but he was boiling with suppressed anger at the moment. It seemed Obi was reacting exactly how he _hadn't_ wanted him to react.

"Yep."

"And... what, you weren't planning on telling me?"

Tony raised his hands and said "Hey, I did say I was going to tell you, it's just been... I've just... been waiting for the right time and-"

Obi smiled tightly and cut him off, saying "Pepper, Colonel Rhodes, would you two be so kind as to take these two ladies to the kitchen? It is dinner time, I'm sure they're hungry, and Tony and I need to have a little talk."

Pepper frowned at the obvious dismissal but nodded anyways, knowing that Tony needed to get this out of the way, and that it wasn't a conversation for anyone else. Ruby looked between Tony and Obadiah, concern and confusion warring on his face. Yang's eyes were narrowed, and she refused to move until Happy put a hand on her shoulder and mumbled something to her that Ruby couldn't catch. The blonde picked up her gear and set out, Ruby trailing behind. Within a few minutes, the room was empty aside from the two men.

Obadiah had taken a cigar out of his suit jacket and was inspecting it, jaw clenched tight while Tony shifted like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. After several seconds, Tony sucked in a quick breath and said, "In my defense, I only found out a few days ago."

Obadiah shook his head and gestured with his cigar.

"Tony, you have _kids_. This is the kind of thing you tell someone the day you find out. And don't give me that bullshit either; you and I both know I was the last to find out among your little circle. If you had it your way, I probably wouldn't have seen them until the press knew they existed."

"Hey, I wouldn't do that, I would've-"

"Oh, but that's not the only thing. How in the hell do you even have _two_ of them, thought you were smarter than that. Don't tell me you knocked up more than one-"

"It's not like that!" Tony bit out. "Obi, would you lay off me for a minute and let me talk?"

Obadiah clamped down on his cigar and withdrew a lighter from another pocket. He gestured as if to say 'go ahead'.

"Look, I was going to tell you, I was, promise. I just... you remember what happened in Monte Carlo, with the SSL demonstration. I know you don't like me just springing shit on you. I was waiting for the right time to break the news, I just never found it. And no, the only one that's actually related to me is the short stack... er, Ruby, the tiny brunette one. Yang, the blonde, was Summer's other daughter. I didn't... y'know." Tony leaned against the boxing ring. "I met Summer thirteen years ago, give or take. The Switzerland conference. Early days for me... but... we hit it off, stayed together for a week and then parted ways. It was fun and fast and... I didn't know, we thought we were safe, I'm not an idiot… and yeah, she'd been going through something with her husband, but we didn't really talk about it at the time."

"So just the one is yours. Why'd you say both then?" Obadiah lit his cigar and closed the lighter with a flick of his hand.

"I've adopted both. It should be official by now."

Obadiah blew out a cloud of smoke and sighed, pointing a hefty finger at Tony.

"You see, this is why you should tell me shit. So I can stop you from making stupid decisions like this."

Tony started to protest, but Obadiah cut him off.

"What do you think the response from the press is going to be like? I already spend enough time as it is keeping them off your back. Every tabloid from here to Shanghai is going to be doing a cover on Tony Stark's two little bastards, and you know they won't care if it's true or not."

"Since when do you care what tabloids have to say?"

Obadiah scowled and puffed out more smoke before responding, "I always have, it's just that usually your _indiscretions_ were less impactful. This is big news, Tony. This changes things."

Tony blew out an irritated breath and said, "I know I haven't been a poster boy over the years but this is different. I'm not-"

"And also... what, you're gonna spend your time playing house instead of running the company?"

"The Jericho is ready for shipping, we're set for the moment, and it's not like-"

"I know you Tony. I held you when you were a baby. You really think you're ready for this? Howard was able to make it work, but-"

" _Don't_." Tony ground out, "Compare me. To _Howard_. I am _not_ him, I will not _be_ like him, so _shut the hell up_!"

The two men glared at each other before Obadiah let out a sigh, some of his anger seemingly bleeding away to be replaced by his typical neutral attitude.

"Tony, I'm just trying to help you. This is a major responsibility."

Tony growled, arms crossed in front of him and thoughts of his father running through his head.

"You don't think I know that?! Everyone and their damn _cousin_ has been saying that. It's like a broken record. I get it! Okay? I'm taking care of them, and I'm not neglecting the company. What else do you want?"

Obadiah plucked the cigar from his lips and said, "I want you to keep me up to speed. I want to be in the loop so I can actually roll with these things. We're supposed to be a team, right?"

Tony hummed low in response, clearly still aggravated. Obadiah sighed, running a hand over his bald head.

"...fine. I suppose that'll be enough for now. I need to get back to the office. Call me if you need anything."

After Obadiah left, Tony stared at an empty spot on the floor for nearly twenty seconds before stalking out of the room.

He needed a drink.

. . .

Ruby and Yang sat and ate in silence, Ruby stealing glances at her sister every now and then. They both had plates heaped with food, but neither one of them were eating at their regular speed. Pepper and Rhodey were tense as well, waiting for Tony to come back while they conversed in low tones. When he did, he strode to the bar area and poured himself a shot without saying a word.

Pepper snatched it out of his hands before he could take a drink and glared at him before asking, "So. What did he say?"

Tony frowned and said, "A lot of things. We fought a bit. Can you hand me my glass back, I'm not a damn teenager."

Pepper glared again at the language but relented the glass. Tony gulped it down in one go before leaning against the counter. Rhodey had an expression of disapproval on his face, as did Pepper, though neither of them voiced their feelings aloud.

"Hey... dad?" Ruby's voice piped up, shy but insistent.

An unknown emotion flashed in Tony's eyes and he harshly asked, "Why do you call me that?"

Ruby shrunk in on herself and she stuttered out, "W-well... I-I mean... that is."

Yang glared at Tony and added a strike against his record. She didn't care if he was angry. There was no need for him to take it out on her thirteen year old sister. Whatever had been said in that room had riled Tony up something fierce. Fierce enough, apparently, to make it so that he was acting like a world class jerk. Privately, Yang felt a pang of sadness; she had been the first to call him dad. Hearing him reject the term like this...

Yang abruptly grabbed Ruby's arm and stood up, her eyes trying to burn a hole in Tony's skull.

"Come on Rubes. Let's leave _Mister Stark_ alone to cool off."

Tony rubbed his face with a hand and sniffed, ignoring the two of them as they vacated the premises.

Rhodey pursed his lips and said, "Well, that went well. What the hell's got you so worked up?"

"Just... drop it Rhodey."

The man shrugged and said, "Ok, I see how it is. Guess I'll be on my way, I can tell you're not in a mood to talk. Pepper, always a pleasure to see you."

After Rhodey left, the kitchen remained in silence except for the clink of the shot glass as Tony refilled it.

"Mister Stark, permission to speak freely?"

Tony didn't grace her with a response, simply draining another glassful.

"You're acting like an asshole, and you need to stop."

That got Tony to raise an eyebrow. Pepper rarely criticized him so directly (or crudely), choosing instead to subtly nudge him most of the time or toss barbs back and forth with him.

"It's been two days, Tony. _Two days_. You can't just flip in personality at the drop of a hat like that or they'll never trust you. And I know most of this is on Obadiah, he's never been one to pull his punches, but you really should have told him sooner. You know how he is about stuff like this and... just... you were doing so well with the girls."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and set the shot glass down before saying, "I know. I _know_ , alright? It's... just... thinking about Howard and everything with that... I'm out of my depth here. I freeze up when they call me dad, you've seen that. I don't... I don't think I have the right stuff for this."

"Bullshit."

Again, Tony raised an eyebrow at Pepper's language.

"I've seen how you act around them, you've been doing fine. Wonderful even, if a little awkward. Just give it time, alright? I think you'll make a fine father, Mister Stark, you shouldn't doubt yourself so much."

Tony snorted and asked, "Is that your professional opinion Miss Potts?"

"It is."

Tony let loose a reluctant chuckle before saying, "I've screwed up, haven't I?"

"Just a bit. I'm sure they'll forgive you if you go apologize."

Tony's nose wrinkled in distaste, and Pepper lightly smacked him on the arm.

"It's really not that hard. Just go talk to them. They'll understand, they're big girls."

After a moment, Tony nodded and set out to find his girls.

. . .

Obadiah Stane flicked the remnants of the cigar into a bin before entering the office, his feet on autopilot as his mind worked overtime. The children were a new variable, a wrench in his carefully laid plans. Usually, he could predict what Tony was going to do with absolute certainty, but now... would Tony bring them along to Afghanistan? Hell, would Tony go at all? It would look bad if they died along with their father, Tony's hit was already pushing it. Then again, he seemed to actually care about the brats. He'd probably leave them behind. If that was the case, Obadiah thought that he could pull some strings, get guardianship of the girls shifted to him. He could tuck them away in some boarding school and forget about them. That or just leave them with Miss Potts. She was a good secretary, and a pretty little thing, but she was far too close to Tony. He'd quietly fire her after Stark bit the bullet.

Of course, he had to make sure that Tony went in the first place. Children made people do stupid things sometimes. He would need to… _encourage_ Tony to attend the Jericho demonstration.

Obadiah nodded to himself, deciding to contact a few associates to ensure that Tony would be at the demonstration alone and that the girls would remain in the States. Hopefully that would be enough to smooth out this unexpected wrinkle.

. . .

"JARVIS, where are they?"

"Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose are in your garage at the moment, sir. Miss Rose appears to be tinkering with Zwei 2.0, and Miss Xiao Long is helping her."

Tony ran a hand through his hair as he descended the stairs to his workshop.

"Any advice on how to do this?"

"I believe the saying goes 'You can't go wrong if it's the truth.' I believe Miss Potts said much the same thing."

Tony snorted and opened up the door. Both girls froze upon seeing him, Ruby hiding her face and Yang glaring at him harshly. Tony grimaced and decided to dive right in, saying, "Right... uh... I just want to start off by saying... I'm sorry. I really should have told Obadiah sooner, he got mad about it, and... mentioned some things. I... I never had the best relationship with Howard, my father... guess he's your grandfather. Wow. It's weird to think about that. And uh... well, if I'm being honest, I'm... scared... of turning out like him. I never planned on having kids... I didn't want them to grow up like I did. I know that's not an excuse but... yeah."

Tony clasped his hands together and took a shuddering breath. It had taken a lot of mental effort to say those words, and he didn't think this was going to be a onetime thing. He got the feeling he was going to have to actually _deal_ with his emotions from now on and not bottle them up and drown them with alcohol.

Yang and Ruby glanced at each other, then to Tony. After a moment, Yang said, "I guess I can understand that... is it a problem that we call you dad? We can stop... it's just... we've never been able to call someone that before."

Tony scrunched up his eyes and nodded.

"No, you can... it's just going to take some getting used to. So don't hold it against me if I'm a bit... stiff. Mannequin-ish. If that's a word."

Yang laughed and said, "Alright. That's still strike one, but I'll forgive you for now. Rubes?"

Ruby looked at Tony, catching his eyes with her own. She studied him for a moment, then asked, "Could you maybe… help me program Zwei... dad?"

Tony, to his credit, didn't freeze for long.

"Right. So what do you want him to do? I was thinking about it last night, we can totally upgrade him to be like a real dog, except he won't tear up shoes and piss on the couch. Unless we programmed him to tear up someone else's shoes. How's that sound?"

. . .

Hours later, Pepper found the three of them arrayed in the living room. Ruby had passed out and was snuggling up next to Tony, who was himself snoring lightly. Yang had commandeered a blanket and was lying on the floor, arm thrown over her eyes with a finished Zwei 2.0 nuzzled up next to her. Pepper smiled; it seemed like her boss had patched things up with the two girls splendidly. Although, she did wonder why it was that the three of them were watching some sort of Japanese anime. She had never taken Tony for the type. He always seemed to be more of an 80's action movie kind of guy.

Tiptoeing forwards, Pepper nudged her boss until he woke up.

"Ughnn... hey, Pep. Did I fall asleep? What time is it?"

"Nearly midnight. At this rate, you're going to teach the two of them bad habits."

Tony rolled his eyes and yawned before saying, "Whatever. Spoilsport."

"Mhmm. What're you watching anyways?"

Tony turned his attention towards the screen, where an animated white haired boy was arguing with a pigtailed girl.

"Apparently it's called, 'Soul Eater.' Ruby recommended it, she seems to really like it; she would not shut up about the weapons in the show. Seriously, short stack must've talked for five minutes straight about the scythe guy. Words gushing out of her mouth like Niagara Falls. It's a bit strange, not really my thing, but it beats out Disney for action."

"Well, they're not watching it now. We should get them to bed."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on short stack, up and at em. You too Blondie. Time for snoozles... I think that's a word. I should really look these up sometime. That or start my own dictionary."

Groaning, the two girls dragged themselves off of the couch and trudged off to their room, neither deigning to respond to Tony's ramblings. Tomorrow would bring a new day, and Tony Stark hoped he could put his mistakes behind him.


	6. Chapter 6: StartingStarWarsDayWithAYang

A/N: Salutations friends! So, I know I said I would put a list of who is going to be in the poll with this chapter, but when I sat down to see if I could find any possible candidates that no one suggested, I stumbled across a character whom I feel is, due to the irony of it all as well as the way in which Ruby's personality and this character's personality would actually balance each other out, a little too perfect not to pair Ruby with. The character is an X-men character called Rahne (pronounced "Rain") Sinclair, whose super hero secret identity is Wolfsbane. Now before you toss this idea aside as ridiculous because it is not the pairing you envisioned, I ask that you look up this character look over their personality and powers and then tell me if you like the idea of pairing them with Ruby or you hate the idea, and if 51% of you guys hate the idea then I will toss it out the window and include the list of characters for the poll in the author's note for next chapter and put up the "Round 1" poll, since if I will be doing the poll it will be done in a vein similar to that of the brackets system used in athletic competition.

Now, enough chit-chat! Story time!

* * *

Chapter 6: Starting Star Wars Day Off with A Yang!

* * *

The date was May 4th, 2010 and Yang Xiao Long was thanking every deity in existence that she was able to spend her summer in Malibu.

She was sprawled out on a beach chair, an orange and yellow bikini leaving her toned body exposed to catch some rays. The Southern California sun was out in full force, filling her body with a pleasant warmth from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. All in all, it was the perfect day to go the beach. Luckily for Yang, Tony just happened to have his own private stretch of sand and surf.

Thinking of her adoptive father brought a small smile to her lips. He may have received his first strike yesterday after his fight with Obadiah Stane, but he'd bounced back admirably. After spending the night with them on the couch, watching a show that he clearly wasn't a huge fan of (to be fair, Yang wasn't either; if she did watch anime, she preferred something less weird, like Dragon Ball Z or Pokémon), he had tucked them into bed along with Pepper and left. The following morning, Tony had proposed that the four of them celebrate Star Wars day by having a marathon of all three original Star Wars movies (all of them agreeing that while the prequels had their good points, they didn't deserve a spot on Star Wars Day). Until then, Yang had advocated to spend some time outside while Tony and Ruby stayed hunkered down in the garage like some kind of technologically advanced mole people. Seriously, her sister needed to get some sun, otherwise she was going to end up looking like the daughter of Dracula.

Shaking her head, Yang looked out towards the water. The waves weren't very large today, the perfect height for a nice dip.

"Mmm... maybe I'll dive in in an hour or so. Not really in the mood for a swim right now."

Laying back down and turning over, Yang took the pair of aviators off her face (swiped from Uncle Qrow) and settled down into her chair. The sun was really nice. It almost felt like she could just... drift... off…

Within a few minutes, Yang was snoring heartily away as she slept on the beach, the sun beating down merrily on her exposed back.

. . .

"OW! Ah cha cha, be careful with that."

"Yang, you're never going to get better if I don't put this on you." Ruby said as she rubbed aloe vera onto Yang's shoulders.

"Honestly, Yang, what were you thinking? You look like a lobster."

"I didn't plan on falling asleep out there. Okay? It just kinda… happened."

"Did Yang come back in yet? I need to-woah! That is one hell of a sunburn."

Yang scowled at Tony until Ruby started rubbing again, her face twitching from the coolness of the cream and the heat of her skin.

"What did you want to tell us, Pops? Ouch."

Tony grinned at Yang's plight before clearing his throat.

"Right. I'm going to be leaving tomorrow morning. I have to fly down to Arizona for a weapons test. Should be back in a few days. It was supposed to be fine, but the guy who was gonna present it backed out, and Pepper's been haranguing me to fill the spot since yesterday. So uh... don't burn down the house or anything while I'm gone."

Ruby rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, like that'd happen. Right, Yang? We would _never_ light something on fire just to watch it burn."

"Hey, I'm not like that!"

"Remember that time you nearly burned down the garage?"

"...I just wanted to see what a gasoline fire looked like... I'm not a pyro, I swear!"

Ruby giggled and said, "Mhmm. Righhht. Keep telling yourself that."

Tony flicked his eyes between the two of them.

"Should I be worried?"

Ruby shook her head, removing her hands from Yang's back. She saluted Tony crisply and, donning her best sailor voice, said, "Don't ya worry Cap'n, I'll keep 'er in line."

Tony chuckled and clapped his hands together, saying, "Ok then. If you two are done, why don't we get started on that marathon? After all, it isn't every day we celebrate the one truly auspicious America Holiday. Plus... I might've gone out and bought costumes to wear…"

"Oh oh oh! I want to be Luke Skywalker!" Ruby yelled, her hand raised in the air.

"Not sure that I can dress up with this sunburn." Yang commented as she stretched, wincing.

Tony stroked his chin before saying, "Well... you could be Leia. We'd need to pin up your hair into the little—"

Yang adopted a Simon Cowell impression and held a hand signaling for Tony to stop, saying, "Okay, let me stop you there. No. Just... no. No one touches the hair."

Tony raised his hands in surrender and said, "Alright, alright. I'll just go get my Darth Vader mask and we can begin. Keep your pants on, firecracker."

As Tony left, Ruby noticed the melancholy look on Yang's face.

"What?"

Yang looked up, a small, sad smile on her lips.

"Mom used to call me that... firecracker. I know Uncle Qrow does too... but hearing him say it... I don't know. It feels nice, I guess, but at the same time…" Yang sniffed and rubbed her eyes before continuing, "Never mind. Let's just... let's just get this started."

Yang moved to turn away, but stopped as she felt Ruby's hand on her arm. Her sister was observing her with soft silver eyes full of understanding.

"I miss her too. Don't think that I don't... and I understand. But you know what Mom would say."

Yang nodded, her smile still sad.

"Never stop moving forwards."

"Never stop moving forwards." Ruby agreed. In that moment, Yang thought that, despite her age and general naïveté, Ruby was stronger than she probably ever would be. She had the same light in her that Summer always seemed to have, a light that Yang could never quite emulate, that innocent glow that refused to be stifled. Yang was a flickering flame that grew and roared, then waned and whispered. She was heat and fire and embers, but Ruby was more than that; she was constant, unwavering, and a beautiful soul. Oddly enough, she didn't feel jealous of her sister, not begrudging her similarity to Summer; no, Yang was proud of Ruby, and more than a little mournful. If only Mom could see her as she grew up.

Ruby squeezed her arm and let go. Within a split second, melancholy was replaced by excitement, and Ruby was back to her normal exuberant, bubbly self.

"Come on, we've got Star Wars waiting! And we get to watch it on that TV that's like five hundred inches wide!"

Yang laughed and shoved her sister, a genuine smile gracing her lips.

"Race you there!"

"Ha, you can't beat me Yang! You don't have the Force!"

"Shut up, and Leia does have the Force!"

. . .

Tony Stark found himself at a bit of a loss.

Not even a week ago, he was a different man... an empty man, it seemed, if one compared that man to the one he was now. As his daughters (finally getting used to it, and damned if it didn't make his once hollow heart fill up every time he said it) cheered at the screen as Luke flew his way down the Death Star trench, he felt himself smiling. They really were something special, both of them. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy... well, actually, he could. It had been the day that Howard and Mom had left for a drive on Long Island and never came back. Funny how things worked out like that.

For the first time in his life, Tony was beginning to understand what being a father meant, and it terrified him. He knew how many scary people there were out there, some of whom were his enemies. People who would like nothing more than to tear his little family apart, for money, for revenge, or just for no reason at all besides amusement. Fear, apparently, was a very large part of being a parent.

Tony started slightly as the Death Star blew up, burying his feelings like he usually did. He was a grown man, damn it! Now was not the time to show weakness, especially not in front of his girls.

"Ok Short Stack, what say you put in the next disk? Daylight's a wasting, and there's another Death Star that needs to be blown up."

With a nod, Ruby sped over to the player and ejected the New Hope disk, switching it out within seconds. Yang gingerly leaned forwards and picked up a piece of popcorn out of a bowl set on the low table in front of them.

"Hey, Pops?"

Tony turned to look at her, grinning.

"Mmm?"

"How did you manage to get your hands on this version? From what I've heard it's almost impossible to find the original unedited versions... you know, Han shooting first and all that…"

Tony's grin turned to a smirk, and he said, "Well... when you've got my resources, it's not all that hard. I was able to get my hands on the original VHS version and have JARVIS convert them to high def. Unfortunately, when I emailed George Lucas about them, he told me to shove them up my ass... well, he didn't exactly say that, but the sentiment was there."

Yang rolled her eyes, grinning as well.

"Dumbass. If he released the originals he'd get fans off his back and make even more money. But... whatever. Ready, Rubes?"

"Ready!" Ruby threw herself back onto the couch, body flopping down and brown robe sprawling everywhere. She unclipped her lightsaber and began to make swishing noises with it.

Tony pressed play, and the familiar word crawl began, the three of them settling back to celebrate the holidays in earnest.

. . .

Tony Stark found himself in Arizona two days later, parading around in front of a herd of military men (what was the proper term for that, Tony wondered. Maybe they were called a gaggle. Or a murder...yeah, that sounded appropriate) as he showed them the Accelerated Wave Explosion, or A.W.E. The weather in Yuma was stifling, which was multiplied by the crisp suit that Tony was wearing. Really, it was way too warm to be wearing a jacket here in May. Off to one end, he could see Rhodey standing at attention like a good little soldier.

"Gentleman... sometimes, manpower just isn't enough, and soldiers on the ground find themselves at a loss. Sometimes, the bad guys are well and truly holed up and nothing short of an orbital bunker buster is going to run them out of their fortresses. Or at least, that's the way it was until this was made." Tony rapped his hand on the shell of the cement block sized device. "The A.W.E. is the first of its kind. A portable explosive that is uniquely suited to making an entrance with more style than yours truly. With this at their disposal, no soldier will ever be without the tools necessary to penetrate a building."

Tony waved his hand, and the volunteer nodded. Placing the explosive on a wall, he pressed a button and activated the clamps that stuck the block of contained power to the stone. Withdrawing a few paces, the soldier activated a controller and pressed another button, beginning the countdown.

The sound was surprisingly quiet for an explosive, which told Tony that the thing had worked. The A.W.E. actually wasn't all that powerful, especially for being so large. What made the bomb special was the method in which it destroyed. Instead of a chemical explosive, the A.W.E. utilized directional sound waves that vibrated at such a high frequency that they turned any solids into dust. It was small and light enough to be carried by one man, and powerful enough to burrow through five meters of stone or two meters of steel in nanoseconds.

Tony however, felt no pride in it. He'd been questioning himself a lot these days, having kids did that to you, apparently. He wondered if this was really the legacy he wanted to leave behind for Yang and Ruby. Did they really want a butcher and murderer as a Father? Tony knew the names that some people called him; the Merchant of Death title had been circling around for years, spoken of in office hallways and passed around university classrooms. Could he really continue on like this, making tools of death and destruction while the rest of the world paid the price?

As the generals and politicians clapped and cheered, Tony tuned them out and walked away. He'd have to talk to Obi... and wasn't that conversation going to turn out well? Tony grimaced; there was no way in hell Obadiah would go for that. Stark Industries was built on weapons development. Over seventy percent of the company's products were sold to the US military and its allies. While Tony had diversified some, it wasn't nearly enough to make such a radical change.

He supposed he could talk to the girls and see what they thought about it. Neither of them had mentioned anything about it, so they either did not care that he made weapons, somehow did not know that he made weapons, or had been avoiding the subject. Tony hoped it was the former of the three; he didn't want to lose points because of Obi's stubbornness... again. Tony sucked in a frustrated breath through his teeth. His dad's old business partner may have been his mentor, but that didn't mean that Tony was blind to some of Obi's less stellar aspects. Obi was all about the money and power. He wouldn't go along with shutting down weapons development unless Tony had something big to show him.

"Hey, Tony, what's up, you look like someone ran over your dog?"

Tony looked up to see Rhodey grinning lopsidedly at him, eyes twinkling.

"Nothing. Just thinking about how damn hot it is out here. Why can't we have testing grounds in the Caribbean? Or better yet, Alaska. We can blow up some snowmen with military grade equipment. Shredding old Frosty with a rocket launcher sounds pretty fun, right?"

Rhodey rolled his eyes and said, "Sure. Your presentation was good by the way. We still up for drinks tonight? It's on me."

Tony scratched the back of his head.

"I... I don't know. I've been trying to cut back."

Rhodes' eyebrows rose and he asked, "Woah, you're really going all out with this parenting thing." Tony started to protest but Rhodey cut him off saying, "Oh, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just surprised is all. Never thought I'd hear the day Tony Stark would turn down drinks from someone else. If you don't want to drink, we can just hang out at the club. I've got some Air Force guys I'm with who can tag along."

After a moment's thought, Tony nodded, his usual Stark Grin™ on his face.

"I can drink one or two. Just telling you now, Cabbage Patch, I'm buying the most expensive thing on the menu. You're paying, you promised, no take backs."

"You are the _worst_ date, Stark."

"I feel offended. I am the _best_ date. I'm worth at least four stars on Yelp."

Rhodey pursed his lips, confused.

"Isn't that for restaurants?"

"...shut up."

"Excuse me, gentleman!"

Tony and Rhodey turned, seeing a general approaching. One that Stark was rather familiar with, unfortunately.

"General Ross."

"Sir."

Thaddeus Ross saluted Rhodes and nodded to Tony.

"At ease Colonel. That was a very impressive demonstration there, Stark. Very impressive, I'll be requesting an order or two of those for my boys. I look forwards to the unveiling of the Jericho on the 18th, as I know quite a few of my colleagues are as well. Will you be showing that off too? "

Tony's smile turned a little forced.

"...why of course, General. Why wouldn't I?"

Ross smiled as well, a knowing gleam in his eye. Tony felt a powerful urge to wipe that smug look off of his face.

"Will _you_ be there? Last I heard you had a not-so-little green problem with a thing for smashing that you've been chasing."

And just like that, the smile was gone, and Ross looked borderline apoplectic. Mission accomplished.

"How did you find out about that?"

Tony smiled nastily, bowing his head just enough to be mocking.

"I have my sources. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be."

Tony and Rhodey turned away, Rhodes giving a brief salute before catching up with Tony. Ross glared at their backs before he too turned to go, muttering under his breath.

"You better have a damned good reason for making me do this, Stane."

. . .

Back in Malibu, Ruby and Yang were putting the last finishing touches on their shared room. In only four days, the space had been fully painted and filled with a bevy of new furniture, ranging from a massive array of bookshelves (filled up with all of Ruby's new books) to a race car bed modeled after a Ferrari (Yang had insisted. Hey, if she was rich now, why not splurge a little?). Both of them had large desks and shiny new Stark Industries computers, complete with rolling chairs that moved up and down that Ruby had spent several hours playing with.

Grunting, Yang heaved upwards as she placed her old boombox down on her side of the room, sticking it on top of her desk.

"Anything else?"

Ruby skipped out of the room and called back "Nope! That's the last of it. We are officially… moved in!"

Yang groaned and flopped down onto her mattress, tired from moving everything too large for Ruby to handle.

"Thank Oum. Why did we get such large furniture?"

"Because the bigger it is, the better it is!"

Yang smirked at Ruby and asked, "Really? I didn't know you thought that way Rubes."

Ruby scrunched her eyes, confused, before she flushed red.

"Ew, Yang, gross, get your mind out of the gutter!"

Yang chuckled, in her element.

"Oh Rubes, you should know by now that my mind never leaves the gutter. And don't think I haven't caught you looking at my Captain America comics, raking your virgin eyes over that fine set of abs."

Ruby managed to stutter out, "I-I'm not... I didn't... um."

"You weren't? And you also _totally_ weren't ogling Leia when we watched Return of the Jedi two days ago, I suppose."

Ruby didn't respond, doing her best impression of a fire hydrant.

Yang laughed for quite some time at the expression on her sister's face before finally deciding to let her off the hook.

"Don't get too worked up, Ruby, I don't mind. It happens to everyone. And I'm totally ok with whatever way you decide to swing. I can see where you're coming from though. It is very hard for me to choose sometimes too. Although I am a sucker for some nice, hard—"

"Yang!"

"I was gonna say muscles! Get your mind out of the gutter, Ruby."

Ok, so maybe she wasn't quite ready to let Ruby go that easily. Her sister was just so adorable when she was flustered.


	7. Chapter 7:WhatHappensInVegasStaysInVegas

A/N: Greetings, salutations, and etc! So, after reading your reviews and a **_VERY_** helpful PM I have made the Authorial decision to axe all shipping for story. Now, before you all say, "But in last chapter you said…" I just want you all to hear me out. The truth is I did not even want to do pairings in the first place. Half of why is that I am out of my depth when it comes to romance because I have no experience or real world knowledge when it comes romance and I have never written any form of romance material at all whatsoever. The other half of why is that I knew that in all honesty there was no I could pair any RWBY character with anyone and win. The only reason I was going to pair Ruby with anyone at all to begin with was because you all seemed eager to have Ruby be paired with someone and I felt pressured to attempt to pair her with someone because I did not want to disappoint anyone by not pairing her with anyone. So, I want to take a moment to give a **_HUGE_** thank you to the person that sent me the PM in question (They know who I am talking about) for the very helpful words of advice they gave me that helped me muster the courage to assert what I really wanted to do with this story.

Now, to address a concern about including the X-men in this story, I already have things planned out for future events for this story that require the existence of both the X-men and the Brotherhood of Mutants in this story. However, the X-men and the Brotherhood won't be too involved, they and their members will mostly just be name dropped, except for Magneto because you can't have a proper Marvel story with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch and not have Magneto be their dad and not have him show up.

\Next to address a concern from a reader, who I am sure will know who I am referring to, that was written in a review that not only seemed to have been written while the reader was drunk, but that also basically stated, at least as far as I could tell since it took me a minute to decipher what they were saying, that my contemplating pairing Ruby with a girl meant that I hated opposite gender relationships. I can assure you that this is not the case. The only reason I had even contemplated pairing Ruby with Rahne was because the fact that Rahne's religious beliefs cause her to view herself as an abomination and Ruby's reaction to finding out that Rahne can become a wolf would be, "Cool!" This means that if anyone could convince Rahne that she is not an abomination and that she should be more accepting of who and what she is, it would be Ruby. Additionally, I am not a hateful person, I may strongly dislike the taste of flavorless vegetables, and I may strongly dislike horror movies because characters in horror movies have less intelligence then my family's cat, but I don't hate people or things.

Now, while there will not be any pairings, I am still going to have Tony and Pepper get engaged because I feel like unless I killed one of them, which would be a surefire way to lose all of you as continuous readers of this story, it would be a little too OOC of them to not end up at least getting engaged. I am not sure if I should actually have them go beyond being engaged and get married because I don't know what lies in store for them in the movies after the end of the events of Infinity War. However, I am getting ahead of myself, since we are just only starting to see events from the first Iron Man movie in this chapter.

Now, enough chit-chat! Story Time!

* * *

Chapter 7: What Happens In Vegas, Stays in Vegas?

* * *

"Nooo... moan... ooh... horrible sounds... lamentations and misery... mmeeehhhh..."

Yang rolled her eyes at her sister's antics and punched the little dweeb in the arm. Honestly, it was just a dress. She was being overtly melodramatic for nothing.

"OW! Yaaaang, why'd you punch me?"

"Because you're being annoying. Lighten up Rubes! Aren't you excited to go to Vegas?"

Ruby huffed and looked out the window of the airplane. In all honesty, she wasn't excited to go to Vegas. Sure, she wanted to be there to support her dad while he received that award (despite the fact that Tony had made it abundantly clear he didn't give two shits about it), and part of her would enjoy seeing the lights and sounds of the Entertainment Capital of the world.

However, this would be the first outing Ruby and Yang had participated in as a family, and Tony planned on announcing the two girls as his daughters during the ceremony. It made Ruby feel uncomfortable, knowing that in just a few short hours, the world would know that she existed. That isn't to say she didn't want Tony to tell people; Ruby was smart enough to know that waiting until her identity leaked by itself was a very bad idea. But that didn't make her any less nervous about what people were going to say about her. She didn't want to be a celebrity; Ruby was perfectly content staying in Tony's wonderful garage and tinkering all day long.

The fact that Yang and Pepper had stuffed her into a formal dress that made her look 'cute,' according to them, was just the unpleasant icing on the cake. Ruby thought she looked like a dress up doll, and not in a good way. How did people even walk in heels anyways?

Ruby's thoughts were interrupted when Yang bounded out of her seat and began poking around the inside of the private jet.

"Yang! What are you doing?"

Yang sent her sister a cheeky grin and said, "Oh, come on Ruby, don't you want to see what kind of cool stuff Tony has in here?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head. The thought was very tempting, now that she thought about it. Her father did have a penchant for upgrading everything he owned (which meant practically all of Ruby's new belongings were tricked out. Which was _awesome_ ).

"Well uh... yeah, but what if he comes out and sees us messing with his jet?" Ruby asked. She didn't want to annoy Tony.

Both sisters looked to the door that led to the small bedroom where their adoptive father was currently working on his laptop. He'd asked for some peace and quiet during the hour long flight to Vegas from Malibu.

Yang put a finger to her lips and whispered, "We'll just have to be really quiet."

Ruby paused, torn, before she finally made up her mind. She was bored anyways. What was the worst that could happen?

. . .

Tony Stark frowned, glaring at his computer screen. Frustratingly, the words he sought were eluding him, the speech that he had planned on writing simply not forming. It wasn't usually this hard... then again, most times, he wasn't writing a speech to reveal his daughters to the world.

Tony was still unsure about whether this was the right move. Sure, people were going to find out sooner or later, and it was better to tell them about it now. But Ruby was still so young and vulnerable (Yang slightly less so), and he knew the kinds of things the paparazzi would write about her and Yang. The two of them wouldn't have a moment's peace once he did this, their every step hounded by photographers. It was a life Tony had known since he was born, and he knew how to deal with, but the girls didn't.

Tony ran a hand through his hair and sniffed, eyes scanning over what he had written before deleting it all. He began typing again shortly.

"Let's see... do, do, do... accept the award, blah, blah, blah. Mmm... how about this?" Tony said as an idea struck him.

" _Thank you, ladies and gentleman, for being here tonight, I'm sure you'd all rather be out shooting craps than sitting in here with me. I know I would. No, but really, it's an honour, I don't have many of these_... hmmm... is that too egotistical? Meh, it'll work."

Tony continued typing, reading out loud as he went along.

" _I want to thank the Chairman, the Board_ , maybe throw in a few more important sounding people, the big airbags will love it. And then onto, _I know that I wouldn't be here tonight if it weren't for my friends._ Mmm... I should give shout-outs to Rhodey, Obi and Pepper. That'll be the easy part. And then, _Finally, I want to thank my daughters, Ruby and Yang, for being here with me tonight to support me. Say hi, girls._ I can present them, they can take a few pictures, and then I can end it there. _Now, if you don't mind, I think there's a poker game waiting for me somewhere in this building._ There, that'll give me an out. Hopefully. If all goes well, Happy will have us out of there before they swamp us."

Tony snorted, muttering to himself, "That'll still light a fire under the ass of every reporter in the room. We'll need to book it out of there fast. Is it too abrupt? JARVIS, what do you think?"

"I approve of it, Master Stark. It's short and to the point, and doesn't give away any information. You've downplayed your adoption, which will lessen the reaction of the media to some extent. Though, Sir, keep in mind your demonstration of the Jericho is tomorrow. As you cannot be around to deal with the aftermath, perhaps it would be wise to leave Miss Potts behind."

Tony pouted. He hated leaving Pepper behind, she was extraordinarily valuable to him. She was the one who knew his Social Security number, for crying out loud. But JARVIS had a point; he'd better leave Pepper behind to calm down the media fires while he was in Afghanistan. Also, so that there was someone to watch after the girls.

A sudden loud noise drew Tony's attention, and he frowned at the door.

"JARVIS, what was that?"

"Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose appear to have activated the jet's retractable pole and are taking turns trying to use it to climb to the ceiling of the jet."

Tony blinked, his eye twitching.

"The stripper pole?"

"Indeed, sir."

"...I knew I should have locked the controls for that before we left."

. . .

Ruby sat in the middle of a large crowd in the darkened room as the presentation began to play. Politicians, military officials, and celebrities crowded the room, all of them dressed to the nines and fully formal. The whole setup made Ruby feel very out of place, even though she knew her dress was up to standard.

" _Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot._ "

Ruby snorted at that, and was promptly shushed by a few people around her. While all of those things did apply to her dad, she knew that his ego was plenty large enough as it was. Yang looked to be laughing silently at Ruby's reaction, and Ruby resisted the urge to kick her sister under the table. Honestly, she was enjoying her suffering too much.

" _Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board._ "

Ruby blinked in surprise, having not known that. It was an impressive achievement. She herself had not gotten into robotics until she was seven.

" _At age six, his first engine. And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT._ "

Ruby blinked again, and then smiled. She bet herself she could graduate earlier than Tony had. She was already on her way there at the age of 13.

" _Then, the passing of a titan. Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries._ "

Ruby scowled at the mention of Obadiah. The old bald man had come by only twice more since that fight two weeks ago, and he'd been creepy and cold both times. It was like he couldn't settle on whether or not to smile or frown at Ruby (Yang he always frowned at, though Ruby didn't know why).

" _With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe._ "

Ruby looked across the table at her father and saw the tightness of his jaw. Was something bothering him? Did it have to do with Obadiah, or was it about the whole 'weapons' thing? Looking back up to the stage, Ruby saw Rhodey standing at the podium. She liked Rhodey a lot more than Obadiah. He was funny and didn't try to treat her like a kid. And he knew a surprising number of facts about engineering. Probably osmosis from being friends with Tony Stark.

"As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend, and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark."

Ruby began clapping enthusiastically when her father stood up, a charming TV smile plastered on his face. Ruby didn't like that smile; it looked fake to her whenever she saw it. She preferred his smirks and proud grins much more. Especially the ones that he gave her after a few hours of working together in the garage.

Tony strolled up to the podium, shaking the hand of his longtime friend. After accepting the award, he looked out on the crowd and took a breath while Rhodey walked off to sit at Yang and Ruby's table. Ruby tensed. This was it; Tony had said that he was going to announce the two of them during his acceptance speech.

"Thank you, ladies and gentleman, for being here tonight, I'm sure you'd all rather be out shooting craps than sitting in here with me." The crowd chuckled and Tony continued, "I know I would. No, but really, it's an honour, I don't have many of these. It's not that often that I win awards; I don't have that kind of job."

Ruby saw her father pause, shaking his head slightly.

"For me to win this... very prestigious award... I just couldn't have gotten to this point by myself, ya' know? I'd like to thank the Chairman and the Board, as well as General Clarke for electing to give this to me. And beyond that... I know that I wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't also for my friends. Rhodey... well, he introduced me, obviously. Stand up guy, Rhodey. Just don't ever go driving with him on a Sunday, he moves slower than my dead grandmother."

A small wave of polite laughter rippled through the audience again, and Ruby caught Rhodey rolling his eyes good naturedly.

"I'd like to thank Pepper Potts, my lovely secretary who was sadly too busy doing my work for me to attend. And Obadiah Stane as well, my ever bald mentor. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to rub his head within the past twenty years."

Ruby snickered at that, before realizing what was coming up.

"Finally, I... I want to..." Tony stopped, faltering. He took a breath to steady himself and said, "I want to thank my daughters, Ruby and Yang, for being here with me tonight to support me, and—"

The crowd, which had been fairly subdued during the presentation, suddenly roared to life. Whatever Tony was going to say next was drowned out by noise as reporters clamored over one another to be heard. Ruby tried to make herself as small as possible, as several of the cameras turned towards their table, flashing at her and Yang. Finally, Tony managed to be heard over the din as he shouted down "No, no questions, now if you'll excuse us..."

Ruby felt someone grab her arm and she looked up, startled; she relaxed upon seeing it was Rhodey. The dark skinned man pulled her away from the table, Happy behind them as he shielded Yang from the clamoring press. They managed to make it out of the hall without too much difficulty, and the foursome began their way to the limo that Happy had parked outside.

Tony joined up with them not long after, his shirt somewhat ruffled.

"I was thinking it wouldn't be as bad at a formal award ceremony, but no... I should've known better. Sorry about that, girls."

Yang waved her hand dismissively and said, "Ah, it's fine, Pops. I didn't mind. I'm not shy like Ruby is."

Ruby glared at her sister, her arms crossed over the front of her dress as if to protect her modesty.

"So many cameras... ugh! Can we get something unhealthy and full of sugar for dinner; I don't feel so good right now."

Tony laughed and ruffled Ruby's hair, causing the thirteen year old to wave her arms in protest.

"Sure thing, short stack. My treat."

The group soon passed out of the casino that the ceremony had been held in and began walking towards the limo. Their path was halted by two women who emerged from behind the car who had clearly been waiting for them.

Tony threw a cautioning hand out and frowned at the two interlopers.

"And who might you two be?"

The blonde woman stepped forward, charming smile on her lips and hand extended.

"Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair Magazine. This is Lisa Lavender, would you mind answering some of our questions?"

Tony flicked his eyes towards Happy and jerked his head towards the limo. As the driver moved Ruby and Yang out of the line of the two reporters, Tony could see their eyes watching his girls in an almost predatory manner. He grimaced; the attention had started already.

"Ok, a _few_ questions, that's all. Ok? And only from me."

The woman smiled, her partner clicking a pen.

"I don't think anyone in that room was expecting you to reveal that you had two teenage daughters. Is there a reason no one has heard about them before?"

Tony rolled his eyes, every inch the confident playboy as he responded, "Yeah, I don't know how much you know about me, but I'm not exactly the most liked man in America. I've kept them under wraps for their protection. You know how it is."

Everhart raised one carefully manicured eyebrow and asked, "Then why reveal them now?"

"Why not? It seemed like a good time."

The woman seemed unsatisfied with his answer and asked another question immediately.

"There are some out there who refer to you as the Merchant of Death _._ Do you feel guilty raising two children using money that is stained with other nation's blood?"

Tony hissed through his teeth; so she was one of _those_.

"How I raise my children is none of your concern, and how I make my living isn't either. It's an imperfect world we live in, Miss Everhart. People are gonna fight, people are gonna die. I just make sure that Americans die less often than the other guys, like dear old dad did. That's called patriotism, sweetie."

Everhart's eyes narrowed at the patronizing tone Tony had adopted with her and said, "A lot of people would call that war profiteering, not patriotism, Mister Stark."

Tony growled, fed up with this woman. He did _not_ need this right now. Funnily enough, in another life he would have seriously considered trying to seduce her; she was pretty hot. But there was no way in hell he was bringing this shark in women's clothing near his daughters. Plus... well, Pepper was looking pretty good these days. It was strange that he'd never noticed her before, but since Ruby and Yang had come into his life, he'd become increasingly aware of how smoking his assistant was.

Regardless, he was done with this woman. He just needed to cut her off at the pass and hope that she stayed away from his family.

"Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? How about the Stark Industries grant that gives out over five million a year to promising college students in low income neighborhoods? Or maybe, our breakthroughs in Arc Reactor technology, a field that was once considered impossible? All of those were made possible through military funding. Now if you don't mind, I have a dinner date with my daughters."

Tony brushed past the two women and climbed into the limo, nearly slamming the door behind him. Why the hell was he feeling like this, normally a reporter that was that obvious in fishing for a story would not faze him at all.

"Hey, dad?"

Oh right. That's why.

Tony sighed and turned around in his seat. Damned if they both weren't the most adorable things he'd ever seen. They were his daughters. _His_. And he would be damned if he would let some _harpy_ like Everhart near them.

"Yeah?"

"...can we get pizza? I think I want pizza. Yang?"

"Sounds good to me."

Tony smiled, some of his anger fading away.

"I'm game. Let's go get some pizza."


	8. Chapter 8:The Walls Came Tooppling Down

A/N: Hello Internet, and welcome to Film Theory! JK. But seriously though, greetings and salutations and all that jazz. I just want to say that it means a lot to me that you all are being so supportive of my decision to not have pairings in this story, although I am somewhat disappointed that last chapter's view count was the lowest out of all of the chapters. I guess that is what I get for not throwing having pairings out the window sooner. Anyways, a virtual cookie goes to anyone who gets the chapter title reference and a virtual cookie goes to whoever gets the Doctor Who reference.

* * *

Chapter 8: Oh and the Walls Came A' Toppling Down

* * *

Tony Stark swam into consciousness slowly. He was in pain. So much pain, more than he could ever remember being in. His chest felt like it had been ripped open and put back together, and there was a strange, metallic, coldness resting right above his heart. He could hear a pair of low humming sounds in the air—one which was organic and one which was mechanical.

Opening his eyes, Tony saw a low, rocky ceiling. He was in a cave then. Somewhere deep underground, if the air was anything to go by; the air temperature hovered above frigid, just cold enough to be labeled as being miserable.

All in all, it was the worst Tony had ever felt upon waking up. And considering some of the benders he had gone through in his life that was saying something.

Coughing, Tony turned his head towards the source of the humming. An older, balding, Asian man was shaving, using a small shard of mirror to see his neck. Tony's eyes soon slid off the man and fixed onto a cup that sat on the table next to the cot that he was laying in.

Tony reached for the cup, already imagining the blessed cool touch of water on his parched tongue, but a painful jerk in his chest stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Tony ignored the unknown man, choosing to look down at his chest. There, swaddled in dirty bandages, was a lump approximately the size of his fist.

Tony's breath quickened as he began to paw at the lump, his mind finally starting to kick into gear. He tore at the bandages, ripping them off one by one as his panic grew.

Removing the final bandage, Tony Stark beheld a sight that both sickened and fascinated him, in a grotesque way. There, in the center of his chest, was a small, black device which had wires running to a car battery on the other side of his cot. It buzzed with electricity, and Tony realized, swallowing, that the thing was buried a good inch into his chest. In that moment, Tony's memories caught up to him, and he began sobbing.

. . .

 _One day earlier..._

Tony kissed the top of Yang's head and ruffled Ruby's hair, secretly delighting in his role as a father. Now that their secret was out in the open, he wanted to protect Yang and Ruby even more. It frightened him occasionally, the depth of his protectiveness after only two weeks. Tony imagined it was some genetic leftover that drove him so; he couldn't really explain it otherwise.

"Right, so me and Rhodey will be back tomorrow around midnight. Try to stay out of trouble. Oh, and Short Stack, if you blow up my garage I am making you fix it. By yourself."

Ruby's face morphed into one of exaggerated horror before Tony took pity on her and said, "Kidding. Anyways. Last I heard your uncle is stopping by to visit while I'm gone. Pepper will be here as well. See you two soon."

"Bye Dad, have fun in Afghanistan!" Ruby called out. As soon as Tony had exited the room, Yang turned to her sister with a gleam in her eye.

"Sooo... you up for a gaming marathon today?"

Ruby gasped, eyes sparkling.

"Yes! That sounds amazing, what do you want to play? Minecraft? No wait... Tekken? No, no. Wii Sports? Super Smash Bros? Mortal Kombat? _Kung Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle 2?!_ "

Yang blinked.

"...is that even a real game?"

Ruby blinked as well and responded, "Now that you mention it... no, I don't think it is. _But it should be_!"

Yang laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Just pick one Rubes."

And so Ruby and Yang settled down to spend their day playing games, blissfully unaware of what was bound to happen that day.

. . .

 _Twelve hours earlier…_

Tony Stark lifted his glass to the assembled military brass that had showed up for his demonstration of the Jericho. Once again, seeing the devastation his weapons wrought had induced a twinge of guilt in his heart. He promised himself that he would have a long talk with Obi once he got back to the States; he wanted to give a better future to Ruby and Yang. Stane would be hard to convince, but Tony thought he might be able to sway his old friend. They might have not been on the best terms since that little spat after the boxing match, but they'd known each other for years. That had to count for something, right?

Tony climbed into the back of the Humvee that had driven him out to this godforsaken swatch of scrub and sand, his attending escort of soldiers already prepped and ready to leave.

"Hey, Tony!"

Tony shifted in his seat to see Rhodey, in full camouflage, approaching the vehicle.

"Nice job out there today."

Tony smiled and said, "Thanks, Ginger Spice, it means a lot. Flattery won't get you anywhere though, especially not in here. This is my ride. I call it the funvee, the humdrumvee is back there."

Rhodey chuckled good naturedly and bumped fists with Tony.

"See you back at base."

As the humvee pulled away, Tony crossed his legs and poured himself a tumbler of iced tea. It wasn't whiskey, but hey, he was trying to cut back, and alcohol probably wasn't the best idea anyways when the temperature outside was just shy of boiling. After draining a glass and refilling it, he looked towards his accompanying guards.

"Anyone else want some? How about you, Forrest?"

The young soldier in question glanced at the other officers and gave Tony a sheepish smile.

"Um... what is it, Mister Stark?"

Tony waved a finger using the hand that wasn't holding the glass and said, "Tea. And don't call me Mister Stark. 'Mister Stark' was my old man. Call me Tony, or Sexy, or Oh Captain my Captain, if you're extra daring."

A round of snickers passed through the group, and the soldier who Tony had addressed as Forrest reddened.

"Sorry, si-Tony sir... I mean, sorry, but umm-"

Tony rolled his eyes, saying, "Don't hurt yourself, kid. I don't bite. You wanted to ask something?"

The soldier nodded and asked, "Yeah, umm... is it true that you built a functioning Arc reactor?"

Tony smirked even as the older male soldier in the cab groaned; it was always nice to meet a fellow science buff.

"Yes, though I did have help. Arc technology is the next big thing in energy, but I don't think more reactors will be appearing for at least another thirty years. It's just not commercially viable yet."

The older soldier took his turn next and asked, "Is it true you went twelve for twelve with last year's Maxim cover models?"

Tony felt a twinge of dissatisfaction but buried it. Hell, he knew that people were fascinated by his former playboy lifestyle. It wouldn't hurt to answer this one guy's questions, so Tony plastered his trademark charming grin on his face and said, "That is an excellent question. Yes and no, March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins."

The soldier laughed, and Tony saw the head of the driver move slightly as she (Tony raised an internal eyebrow, but hey, Summer had been a Navy SEAL. It wasn't like female soldiers were exactly uncommon) asked, "I heard on the news about your daughters. Is it alright if I ask about them?"

The two male soldiers turned expectant eyes towards Tony, who sighed. He should've known everyone and their dead grandmother would be chomping at the bit to find out more about his newly revealed children. Even people isolated in the African Bush probably had heard the news that Tony Stark had two daughters now.

"Yeah, it's fine." Tony scratched the back of his head and removed his sunglasses, folding them over to slide them into his suit jacket. "Their names are Yang and Ruby. They're adorable and wonderful and I didn't even know they existed until two weeks ago."

Maybe it was the fact that he'd likely never see these soldiers again. Maybe it was the fact that they were simply here and willing to listen. But for whatever reason, Tony found himself waxing poetic about the two new bright spots in his life. The female driver, Rose, had a kid of her own, so Tony spent some time swapping stories with her.

During a lull in the conversation, the young soldier, whose name had turned out to be Mickey, asked, "Excuse me, s-Tony... is it cool if I take a picture with you?"

"It is very cool. I don't want to see this on your Facebook page though."

The two scrunched up together while the other male soldier held up the camera. Mickey flashed a peace sign, and Tony commented, "Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up, I'm kidding. Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job for peace. I was a bit too young to join in on the hippie movement though. Never could get on board with all the beads and psychedelics."

Mickey smiled and held his fingers back up, saying, "Thanks Tony. Hey, Jack, come on and hurry up, take the picture."

"I'm trying, alright! Give me a break!"

"Don't change the settings, just take it!"

All further conversation was suddenly tuned out as something exploded ahead of the Humvee. Looking ahead after he recovered his senses, Tony saw that the vehicle in front of them had been reduced to a fiery wreck.

"Son of a bitch!"

Tony looked around wildly.

"What's going on? What's happening?!"

Rose screamed into her radio as she swerved around the former humvee.

"Contact left, we are under fire!"

As soon as they stopped, Jack jumped out and was immediately hit, his body collapsing into a quivering heap. Rose was the next to go, a single shot penetrating through the window, her yells silenced as she slumped over the steering wheel.

Mickey cocked his gun and pushed Tony to the floor.

"Stay here, Tony!"

Not long after the kid left, Tony heard another blast go off. He struggled to breath; not even thirty seconds and all three of his escorts had been wiped out.

He needed to move.

He needed to get out of here.

He needed to go home to his daughters.

Yang.

Ruby.

Tony hissed and shoved the door open, barreling out of the humvee while he kept his head low. He ran to cover behind a large boulder, pulling out his phone.

The _thump_ of something landing nearby disrupted his texting, and he turned his head just in time to see a missile with the words 'Stark Industries' painted on the side.

And then Tony knew nothing at all except pain.

. . .

 _Present…_

Tony sat by the side of a repurposed oil barrel fire, his eyes locked onto the flickering flames within. He remembered everything that had happened. The attack. Those three soldiers dying. The missile. And...

Tony looked down at the mirror shard in his hands and examined the reflection of the... _thing_... in his chest.

"What the hell'd you do to me?"

The man across from him snorted and said, "What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left. It's heading into your atrial septum. Here, want to see? I have a souvenir."

With mounting horror, Tony accepted the small glass tube that the man gave him. Examining it, he could see nearly a dozen tiny steel spikes that slid around inside the glass.

The man watched him, a somewhat bitter smile on his face.

"I've seen many wounds like that in the village I originally came from. We called them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

Tony put the tube down. He knew those wounds too. After all, he'd designed the damn thing; more than ten years ago. The Skystrike anti-personnel mortar shell. Deep down, the twisted, cynical part of Tony was laughing hysterically; he should've known his own creations would bite him in the ass sooner or later. Looking down, Tony grimaced as he once again gazed at the black, mechanical tumor in his chest.

"Electromagnet, I'm guessing? Powered by the car battery?"

"You would guess correctly, Mister Stark. And it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart, hmm?"

Tony's lips thinned.

"It's a stopgap measure at best, isn't it?"

The man shrugged and said, "Most likely it won't last much longer than a month. But... I'm here to make sure you live as long as they need you."

Tony blinked, dragging grainy eyes up to the other man.

"They?"

Tony looked around, settling on a decades old CCTV camera that was installed in one of the corners of the cave. The other man noticed his attention and said, "That's right. Smile. Maybe you can get on the cover of the newspaper."

Tony shook his head and groaned, his hand absently tracing the contours of the car battery. This was a dream. A terrible, horrid nightmare. Any moment now he was going to wake up back in Malibu with his cars and his garage. Pepper would be giving him eyes of boredom while Ruby and Yang did something disgustingly cute together.

But alas, no. The world was cruel. He had allowed himself to forget that when his daughters came into his life. And now... Tony felt a wash of anger and fear; what would happen to Ruby and Yang? He fervently wished that they would just stay safe.

The man, ignorant of Tony's dark thoughts, continued talking. Maybe he thought it would put Tony at ease.

"We met once you know. At a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember."

The man seemed to find this funny.

"Ohoho, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuitry."

Tony jumped as someone banged on the metal door of his cell. His cellmate (or doctor or whatever the hell the man was) sucked in a quick breath and stood up, grabbing Tony's arm, pulling him up.

"Stand up, come on, stand up Stark. Do as I do!"

Five men entered the cell, rifles and submachine guns resting in their arms. Tony eyed them, jaw tightening. One stray shell was a fluke; he knew that people bought and sold his tech on the black market, despite his best efforts. But five more guns, all made by his company? It made it all the more suspect.

A hefty man in desert wear strode through the soldiers, a large and unconvincing smile on his face. He began speaking in a language that Tony couldn't understand.

His cellmate glanced towards him and translated, "He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.' He... he is honored."

Tony resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He would face his legacy like a man. And if he ever escaped, he'd make damn well sure to punch this guy in the face on the way out.

The translation continued when Tony didn't respond.

"He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. This one." Tony's cellmate said as he showed Tony a picture of the Jericho missile that the man who appeared to be in charge had handed to them.

Tony screwed his eyes shut, knowing what was coming. But he'd made a promise to himself that he would make a better future for Ruby and Yang. And that world did not involve smug terrorists getting their grubby paws on a weapon like the Jericho.

"I refuse."

. . .

"This is your morning wake up call, Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long. There's something important that you need to see."

Ruby yawned, stretching her back as she sat up in bed. She blinked, shook her head to clear out the mental cobwebs of waking up, and looked towards the ceiling (it wasn't exactly necessary to do so, but Ruby found a strange pleasure in imaging JARVIS lived in the ceiling of the house).

"Whazzat you say JARVIS?"

"Miss Rose, there is something you and Miss Xiao Long need to see. I'll have it up on the television in the living area."

Ruby heard a groan as her sister roused from her slumber.

"What the hell does War Games want?"

Ruby shrugged and responded "I dunno. Come on, Yang, up and at 'em. It has to be important or he wouldn't have woken us. Besides, we can try out that new cereal Pepper dropped off. What was it again?"

"Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes."

Ruby squealed at the thought of something as unhealthy and sugary sounding as that for breakfast.

The two girls were soon dressed and out of their room. Ruby sped into the kitchen, Yang following closely behind. While Ruby was busy pouring herself and her sister two bowls of concentrated energy, Yang turned her attention to the TV.

She froze, heart thumping in her chest as she stared at the screen in mounting horror.

Ruby, blissfully unaware, poured milk into the bowls and adding spoons.

"Here you go Yang, let's try it! I'm sure it's good... Yang... Yang, what's the matter?"

Ruby frowned and looked towards the television as well. The bowl fell to the floor not long after, shards of porcelain shattering as milk and cereal flew everywhere.

Onscreen was a news reporter named Cyril Ian, Ruby absently noted. Written in bold, blocky letters across the bottom of the screen was a single phrase.

' _Tony Stark Captured in Afghanistan'_

. . .

Tony shivered as he pulled at the edges of his ratty blanket. It had been a very long two hours. After refusing to build the Jericho, his captors had taken him away to torture him. It wasn't much, just some light waterboarding, but Tony knew that if he didn't agree that they would ramp up to more extreme procedures. This was just to make a point. Afterwards, they had taken him outside to show him a large collection of... well, _everything_ produced by Stark Industries, it seemed. The man had made the offer again. And Tony had agreed.

He turned to his cellmate and asked, "So, you got a name, or should I just call you Doc Brown?"

The older man turned his head toward him and chuckled before saying, "I am Ho Yinsen but you may call me Yinsen. In another time I might have told you to call me professor, but I fear those days are behind me."

Tony's eyes widened and he asked, "Professor Ho Yinsen? The Nobel Prize Physics Laureate? I was a big fan of your work back in college."

Tony smiled internally. If he had the help of someone as skilled in physics as Yinsen, then maybe he could survive this. However, if he wanted to escape, he needed time to think. Time to plan. And he couldn't do that while he was in agony from being tortured. It would be dangerous. There was a very high chance he would die. But Tony Stark would be damned if he laid down and died. He had a family to get back to.

His cellmate sat beside him, turning over sausages in a small cast iron pan.

"What are you thinking about?"

Tony blinked, drawing himself out of his ruminations.

"My daughters. Yang... and Ruby."

Yinsen stopped what he was doing, his eyes settling on Tony with unwavering intensity. There was something there, reflected in the firelight. Some broken part of Yinsen that had stirred. A spark of bitter understanding, and maybe a tiny bit of sympathetic hope.

"I did not know you had daughters, Mister Stark."

"I didn't either until a few weeks ago."

Yinsen nodded slowly, an almost manic gleam entering his eyes as a smile spread across his face.

"And you want to break out to see them again, don't you?"

Tony shook his head, eyes hardening into chips of iron.

"No. I don't just _want_ to. I **_will_**."


	9. Chapter 9:Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

A/N: Salutations Readers! So to those asking about Blake and Weiss, as said before at least twice, there will be more RWBY characters showing up later on. In fact all of team JNPR and the remainder of Team RWBY that have yet to be introduced will be introduced next chapter. In regards to the question about Taiyang and Summer, sorry to burst your bubble but Summer will not be making a reappearance in the flesh there will be reminiscing of past events including Summer but she will not be showing up alive. As for Taiyang, while **Z. R. Stein** was not going to have Taiyang show up, I am planning to have Taiyang show up during the Iron Man 2 arc.

Now enough chit-chat. Story time!

* * *

Chapter 9: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

* * *

Yang looked up at the clock, frowning. She hadn't seen her sister in nearly eight hours. Not long after the broadcast had finished, Ruby had locked herself in the garage; what she was doing down there, Yang didn't know, but she was letting Ruby have her space. If she was being honest with herself, Yang knew that she was not the best person for Ruby to be around right now. The shards of glass from the broken TV she had smashed could attest to that.

Yang smiled bitterly. Summer had always scolded her about her temper; her tendency to fly off the handle had been heartily discouraged by her mother. After her death... Yang had tried to honour her wishes. Most times she succeeded... but sometimes she didn't. The times she had truly lost her cool since Summer's death were few and far between, but the memories stubbornly stuck with her: Beating the smugness off of Cardin's face after he bullied her sister at their old school; the torn picture of a blonde man with twinkling blue eyes, the only such image in the house; and now, a smashed TV, broken after hearing one too many times _his_ name repeated, over and over again, attached to _those_ words. Missing. Captured. _Dead_.

Yang choked back a sob as she tightened her hand into a fist, her knuckles crackling. It was supposed to be _different_ here. They were making a new life in Malibu, they were just getting used to Tony and Pepper and Rhodey, they were... they were _happy_. Ruby had been smiling, really, truly smiling. She hadn't done that very much in the months after Mom had died.

Yang slowly released her fist and sank back onto the couch, taking care to avoid the wet spot she had made earlier from crying after she smashed the TV. She'd need to apologize to Pepper later about the damage. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forwards to.

Yang sniffed, rubbing at her eyes. As for herself... she missed Tony. He had to be one of the world's snarkiest bastards, with an ego bigger than most commercial jetliners and had an awkwardness factor that was over nine thousand, but he was _Dad_. _Her_ Dad. It didn't matter that he hadn't helped make her. In the two weeks she had known him, Tony had become more of a father than Taiyang had ever been; the indistinct, faded image of a blonde haired man with blue eyes replaced by a five foot eight brunette guy with a fondness for AC DC and old T-shirts. A man who thought drinking at four in the morning was perfectly acceptable, even if he had been cutting back recently. A man who stayed up past midnight most nights upgrading Zwei 2.0's programming with Ruby. A man who, despite his rough exterior and prickly personality, made Yang feel _wanted_ every time he ruffled her hair and called her Firecracker.

And now, that man was gone.

Yang felt the tears coming again and leaned down, her sobbing echoing in silence, no human around to hear them.

"Excuse me, Miss Xiao Long?"

Yang coughed, rubbing furiously at her eyes as she strove to regain some semblance of control over her emotions. She hated crying in front of people. Even if who she was crying in front of wasn't exactly a _person_.

"Yeah? Whadda you want, Data?"

JARVIS was silent for a long moment, and Yang sniffed as she wiped away the last of her tears.

"Speak up or shut up, I'm not in the mood."

"Miss Xiao Long... I know that I may not be the ideal choice to comfort you in this situation-"

Yang managed a weak snort at that.

"-but, I do know that Master Stark is not one to give up easily. Though much of my creator's mind remains a mystery to me, after serving him for the past few years I know that if he is alive, he will do everything in his power to make his way back to you and Miss Rose. If he lives, there is nothing in this or any other world that can stand in his way."

Yang grimaced and with a slight tremor in her voice asked, "And do you think he's alive?"

"I do, Miss Xiao Long. Though reports are still coming in, all seem to indicate that Master Stark has been captured by one of the terrorist cells hiding in that area of Afghanistan. There is an 87% chance that he remains alive."

Yang stood up, straightening out her clothes. She had cried enough for one day.

"Thank you for that, JARVIS."

"I exist to serve, Miss Xiao Long."

"...you really think he can escape a bunch of terrorists by himself?"

"If I have learned one thing while observing Master Stark, it is to never underestimate the twin powers of necessity and genius."

Yang nodded, her earlier grief somewhat dulled by an onrushing of vindictive glee.

"Then I hope he tears them apart piece by piece."

. . .

Tony Stark stood in the eye of organized chaos, calling out instructions to Yinsen as a score of men moved equipment into the cave.

"If this is going to be my workstation, I want it well-lit. I want these up." Tony waved a hand towards a rack of fluorescent lights, Yinsen translating as he shouted in at least three different languages "I need welding gear. I'd prefer oxy-acetylene, but if I have to make do with propane, then so be it. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup, preferably one that can break 2,000 Celsius. I need two sets of precision tools, better work tables, and a laptop, if you can scrounge one up somewhere."

While Yinsen finished relaying his requests, Tony took some time to look over the stack of papers he'd drawn up late the night before. It'd taken him the better part of an hour, but he'd managed to jot down all the necessary mathematical formulas that governed the Arc process, the specs of the Arc reactor at his factory, and thirteen possible solutions to facilitate miniaturizing said reactor. Twelve of them had been scrapped for being unworkable, but he had hope for the thirteenth plan, provided that the Conquistador Warheads contained enough palladium. If they did, he just might be in business.

Tony allowed himself a quick, grim smile before returning to his work.

"Hey, put those over there, and while you're coming back an extra gas tank."

He just hoped none of them realized what he was doing before it was too late.

. . .

Ruby rubbed at her eyes furiously, trying to rid them of the grainy feeling that had built up over the past... however long she'd been down here. She'd lost track of time easily as she immersed herself in gears and steel and glass, her arms spattered with leftover spots of motor oil. It felt good to just build things; she didn't need to _think_ , didn't need to _remember_. She hadn't spoken at all except to ask JARVIS for advice on what part to use or how much weight a particular piece could bear. And that was fine with her. More than fine actually.

Ruby frowned at the engine in front of her. The old style hot rod with the flaming decals had needed a tune-up, according to JARVIS, and she was glad to give it one. Now, if only she could find where that damn crescent wrench had run off to...

"Ruby?"

Ruby started at the question. Looking over to the door, she saw Pepper framed in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her. Blinking, Ruby trailed her eyes up to Pepper's face, which was splotchy and red; the woman had clearly been crying. Ruby's mouth twitched slightly.

"What?"

She didn't want to _think_. She didn't want to _feel_. All she wanted to do was work. Why wouldn't Pepper let her work in peace?

"Ruby, according to JARVIS, you've been locked in here for fifteen hours."

Ruby blinked again. Had it really been that long? Funny. It hadn't seemed like that much time had passed.

"Ruby, your sister is worried about you... come upstairs, I picked up food... we have takeout from Sun Wukong's."

Ruby stared at Pepper. Now that the secretary had mentioned it, she was hungry. And thirsty. And more than a little sore as well. It would be nice to sit down and just eat some Chinese food. After the first time they had gotten it, she'd grown to love the food from Sun Wukong's. It had been the first meal she'd eaten together with Tony...

Pepper watched as Ruby's expression crumbled, that terrible numb apathy that had been on the girl's face giving way to sadness, her eyes welling up rapidly. Pepper knelt down and held out her arms in invitation to the thirteen year old. Ruby rushed forwards, accepting, and Pepper held onto Ruby as she began crying, her hands clinging desperately to the secretary's shoulders.

. . .

Qrow Branwen drove up to the Stark Mansion, parking his Mustang out front. He turned off the car and sat there for a few moments.

He'd heard about Tony's capture during one of his stops on the road; it was the biggest story on the news at present, with round the clock coverage devoted to it. He hadn't waited around to eat his meal, telling the waitress to put it in a bag; he wanted to get to the girls as soon as possible.

But now that he was here... a part of him was dreading it. From everything he'd seen and heard, Tony had really stepped up to the plate, turning out to be even better than Qrow had hoped. He'd even trusted him enough with the girls to go off. Of course, not that that counted for much now...

Qrow sighed and shook his head while he opened the door of the Mustang. It wasn't Tony's fault. He had to remind himself of that. There's no way Stark could have predicted being captured. It was just a bout of bad luck.

Before he reached the front door of the mansion, Qrow paused. Was it just a bout of bad luck? In his experience, a VIP that important would have a whole convoy with them, at least three armored transports, possibly more. That was over a dozen trained soldiers. They wouldn't be taken down easily. And more than that, terrorists just _happened_ to leave the Humvee that Tony was in unmarked while destroying the others? The news had shown the scene, Tony's transport was full of bullet holes but intact. The hit had been planned. They'd _known_ Tony was going to be there.

Qrow's eyes narrowed as he rested his hand on the door handle. There must be a mole somewhere. And Qrow knew people who specialized in sniffing out moles. He grimaced; there was only one downside...

Taking his hand off of the handle, Qrow fished around in his pocket and pulled out his phone. Selecting one of the contacts within, he waited until the call was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, It's Qrow. Listen, I need a favor."

A long silence came from over the line, the only hint that the person on the other end had not hung up being the presence of low background noise through the speakers.

"I seem to recall that you already owe me a favor, Branwen. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up right now on your sorry ass."

Qrow chuckled, tempted to rile up his contact; his nieces took precedence, though. He would refrain for now, as fun as it was.

"I can give you two. One, you're the best person for the job. I need some help tracking down a possible mole, a high profile leak. Whoever did it has already caused some damage, got a VIP captured."

There was a long drawn out sigh that came through slightly distorted.

"The second reason?"

"The VIP is Tony Stark."

The sharp intake of breath over the speakers caused Qrow's lip to twist in mirth. He had her.

"Stark... oh. Of course. Damnit... I'll see what I can do. I'll ask if Panetta will sign off on it. He's already got someone on the case, but if I bring up your suspicions..."

"Do what you can. I know the CIA is better equipped for this than I am. Thanks, Winter."

Qrow winced at the sharp retort that came through the phone.

"I'm not doing this for you, jackass. If your suspicions are correct, we could be losing a lot more than one weapons designer if we don't find this guy. They'll need the best on top of this. And that's me."

Qrow chuckled.

"Whatever helps you sleep better at night, ice queen. Goodbye."

The indignant squawk of Winter Schnee was bit off as Qrow hung up, a smirk on his face. She really needed to let out some stress, that girl. She was far too uptight.

. . .

Tony broke the top off of the last of the warheads, humming to himself tunelessly. The stockpile of tech that his captors had just so happened to contain just enough missiles for his 'side project'. With Yinsen's help, he should have the Arc Reactor up and running within the week.

A man knocked at the door, opening the slot to shout at Yinsen who walked over. A small tray was passed through and the slot was closed.

"Breakfast is served, hmm?"

Yinsen chuckled.

"Actually, I think it is lunchtime, Stark. And for our main course, we have... mmm, sausages and goat cheese. I feel as if I should be jealous, they didn't feed me this well before you came along."

Tony snorted, his fingers steadily disassembling the warhead while he talked with Yinsen.

"So far I'm not impressed with the service. They didn't even bring spices with them... plus ya' know... I can't understand any of them."

Yinsen shrugged, and Tony asked, "By the way, how many languages do you speak?"

"A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Hungarian, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian." Yinsen said as he shifted some of the meager food onto a spare metal sheet for Tony, who accepted it with a grimace.

"Who are these people?"

Yinsen's answer came shortly after, and it only stoked the fire inside Tony higher.

"They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings. They are freedom fighters, revolutionaries, terrorists, and murderers. Dozens of cultures and creeds united under a single banner. They come from many walks of life for some unknown purpose. I have been here for nearly a year, Mister Stark, and even I do not understand how or why they do what they do. Many of them hate each other as well... by all logic, they should kill each other in their beds. That they don't... I can only assume that means that they must truly fear their leader."

Tony's eyes narrowed.

"And who _is_ their leader?"

"I do not know, Stark. They do not speak of him much. All I know for sure is his title."

Ho Yinsen picked up a knife and began sawing one of his sausages in half, his glasses reflecting firelight.

"They call him the Mandarin."

. . .

Qrow kissed the top of Ruby's head as he tucked her in, her face scrunched up cutely in sleep. She'd knocked out not long after he'd arrived, all tuckered out from her fifteen hour stint in the garage. Qrow's jaw clenched; the poor kid was taking it hard. They both were. Luckily, Pepper seemed to understand, and had brushed off the broken TV and the fact JARVIS had needed to confiscate an assortment of weapons, including a scythe welded to a bolt-action rifle of all things, that Ruby had made with intent of her and Yang going and getting Tony back. Qrow was grateful for that, at least.

Yang curled up around her sister, her blonde hair stretching out over the pillow behind her. The two girls had decided to share a bed for tonight; they needed comfort right now. Qrow smiled fondly at the sight, shaking his head. They really were something else.

After leaving the room, Qrow made his way to the bar and pulled out a bottle of vodka from Tony's private stores. It was the same brand Stark had offered him on his first night here.

"Eh, might as well try some. Bottoms up."

. . .

The Arc Reactor slowly started to take shape, components lining up on top of the table that his jailers had brought in. Tony worked relentlessly, eating little and sleeping less. For him, it was old hat to pull off long hours of work, and he was driven by a desperate hunger more effective than any substance: the need to see his daughters again.

Yinsen had quickly become a friend over the week it took to build the arc reactor. He was an excellent assistant as well; quick to learn, unquestioningly obedient, and wise in a way that Tony normally only attributed to old wizards from fantasy novels. His hands, as steady as the best surgeon, served Tony well when his own trembled from the cold that permeated the small cave they were imprisoned in. The two of them talked about many things during their stay, and Tony vowed to help Yinsen escape with him. The man wanted to see his family again as well, and Tony would see that vow completed.

The Ten Rings, oddly enough, left the two of them very much alone while they built the Arc Reactor. Whether it was because they didn't think he _could_ escape or didn't think he would even _try_ to escape didn't matter to Tony. It wasn't like any of them understood the finer aspects of constructing a Jericho missile; as long as he stayed busy working, Tony thought that he should be able to do what he needed to without them catching on to him.

Hopefully.

When the week came to a close, Yinsen pulled the switch, and energy rushed into the Arc Reactor, kick starting the cycle which soon became self sustaining. Tony stared at the tiny device as it gave off a blue glow, his face almost completely blank. He felt little pride in his creation; he didn't have that luxury right now. This was a product of necessity. Pride could come after he'd made it home.

Yinsen came up behind him, eyes widening as he looked at the reactor.

"That... that doesn't look like a Jericho missile."

"That's because it's a miniaturized Arc Reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart... among other things."

Yinsen nodded slowly, the contours of his face thrown into shadow by the flickering lamps overhead.

"What could it generate?"

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."

Yinsen's eyes widened even further.

"That could protect your heart for fifty lifetimes."

Tony nodded, his fingers flickering over the magnet in his chest. He didn't need fifty lifetimes. Just one.

"Yeah... or it could do something big for fifteen minutes."

Walking over to a different table, Tony flicked on a portable lamp and drew a sheaf of papers from under a spare blowtorch. He'd worked on the design in his spare time, when he couldn't help Yinsen or when he couldn't stand any longer. It wouldn't win any art contests, but as far as blueprints went, it would do.

"This is our ticket out of here."

Yinsen frowned, looking at the sheets of paper which displayed, seemingly, random bits of metal.

"What is it?"

"Flatten 'em out and look."

Tony did just that. The random bits resolved themselves into the image of a suit of armour. Bulky and inelegant, it was nonetheless intimidating; a shell of protection that looked like it could tank a bunker buster and come out standing.

Yinsen's glasses reflected the blue light from the nearby Arc Reactor, his eyes hidden.

"Impressive."


	10. Chapter 10:ShiningBeaconFinalCountdown

A/N: Salutations Friends! So with this chapter we are now officially caught up to where Z. R. Stein left off. That means that next chapter will be all me.

Now enough chit-chat. Story Time!

* * *

Chapter 10: A Shining Beacon and A Final Countdown

* * *

Ruby Rose sighed as she looked out the window of the Audi that she was riding in, eyes fixated on a random point in the distance. It had been five weeks since Tony went missing in Afghanistan. Five weeks since she lost a parent in her life for a second time. The first few days had been the worst; even after Pepper had drawn her out of her self-imposed exile in the garage, Ruby had still felt unbalanced, out of place, like the whole world wasn't quite the same as it was before.

She had experienced the same thing when Mom had died; though then, there wasn't even a glimmer of hope that Summer was coming back. Now, at least, she still had _some_ assurance that Tony would come back one day. There were still so many things she wanted to do with him! Like show him all the work she'd done on Zwei 3.0! He could walk and bark like a real dog now! He even had voice recognition so that no one without authorization could give him command. The only thing that was missing was an outer shell…

The car stopped, and Ruby sighed again as she remembered why she was here. With the end of summer approaching, Pepper had taken it upon herself to sign Ruby and Yang up for school. They had visited three private institutions already (all of which had been vetoed by Ruby. Pepper, oddly enough, didn't seem to mind. Privately, Ruby thought that Pepper simply enjoyed having something to occupy her time.)

Ruby's inner monologue was cut off when she felt someone punch her shoulder. Turning, Ruby shot a glare at her sister.

"What?"

"Come on Rubes, stop being such a grouch! Your face will stick like that if you keep frowning, and then you'll lose the title as cutest sister in the world. And that is completely unacceptable!"

Ruby managed to crack a small smile; she could always count on Yang to get her out of a slump that she was in. Even when Yang was hurting as badly as she was.

Outside of the car, Pepper opened the door and Yang climbed out. Ruby followed not long after, looking like she was trying to dissolve into her crimson hoodie.

The three of them walked towards the school building, Pepper followed closely by the sisters. Looking up, Ruby saw a man standing near the entrance. He had silver hair and a cane in one hand; his face was lined, but not overly so, and a pair of funny sunglasses was perched on his nose.

"Pepper Potts, I presume."

"Indeed. And you must be Headmaster Oscar Pines."

"Ozpin, please, or just Oz. That's what everyone calls me."

Pepper nodded, every inch the confident secretary. She laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"This is Ruby Rose, and this is her sister."

Yang waved one of her hands lazily.

"Yo. I'm Yang. Nice school you've got here Oz."

Ozpin's lips twitched and he bowed his head. Ruby idly noted that his eyes were hazel.

"Thank you for the compliment. We here at the Beacon Institute are rather proud of our school. Shall we continue this conversation in my office?"

Pepper nodded, and the four of them moved into the building.

As they walked, Ruby couldn't help but look around. Compared to some of the public schools she'd attended, Beacon Institute was much swankier. The walls were lined with dark wooden paneling, and if Ruby were to guess she would say it was authentic wood as well. Crystal chandeliers provided light at regular intervals, and the floors were carpeted. All in all, it resembled more a rich person's house than it did a school.

Though, Ruby supposed, she was rich now, even if Tony might not be alive any—

With an effort of will, Ruby crushed that thought before it could fully form. There was still a _chance_. She had to have _hope_ that he could come back. She couldn't lose another parent. Not so soon after Mom died.

The foursome finally entered the office, and Ozpin closed the door behind them. He walked behind his desk and sank into his chair, groaning slightly as he did.

"So... you want to come to my school, Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long?"

Ruby exchanged a glance with Yang and shrugged, before returning her eyes to a point on Ozpin's desk.

"I don't know... why should I come to your school and not somewhere else? I'm sure you'd just _love_ to have us attend Beacon."

Ruby couldn't help the accusatory note that crept into her tone. At every campus they'd visited, the principals and headmasters had had a greedy gleam in their eyes; of course they would want the daughters of the famous Tony Stark to attend their schools. Such an event would net them fame and money, and they were willing to do whatever it took to convince the two girls to join. Neither Ruby nor Yang wanted that. They didn't want the constant, painful reminder of Tony, and they certainly didn't want their relationship to their missing-in-action father to be used to further someone else's gains. If Ruby was being honest with herself, she would rather just stay at home, but Pepper had insisted on her attending school.

"To be honest, I'm not actually convinced that my school would be the best fit for the two of you. However, Miss Potts insisted on this meeting, and I have heard good things about her through the grapevine."

Ruby blinked. So, this headmaster didn't actually care about Tony being her father? That was new.

"Why wouldn't we be the best fit?" Yang asked, with one eyebrow raised.

Ozpin took a sip from a white mug sitting on his desk before steepling his fingers.

"Beacon Academy is a rather selective school. The makeup of our student base is... different from the norm."

Ruby scrunched her face up.

"What does that even mean?"

Ozpin turned one hazel eye on Miss Potts before turning his attention back to Ruby.

"Well, I suppose dancing around this will get us nowhere. Miss Rose, Beacon Institute is one of only two schools in the United States that openly accepts mutants. Over three quarters of our student body are mutants of one stripe or another."

Ruby's mouth formed an 'O' of surprise, and she heard Yang's intake of breath. Pepper didn't react at all, though Ruby supposed that she must have already known.

Ozpin watched the two of them carefully.

"You understand now my meaning, Miss Rose. While Beacon is open to anyone, we do try to avoid any... unnecessary conflict. If you aren't comfortable attending school alongside mutants, then my school is not for you. However, on the other side of the coin, no one will judge you if you do attend. We have all kinds of students at Beacon. The two recently revealed daughters of a billionaire weapons inventor will not be that terribly unusual."

Ozpin set down the mug and pushed his little sunglasses further up his nose.

"The choice is ultimately up to you two. Whatever your choice is, I expect you to stand by it. And if you choose not to attend... then I would entreat you both to be... discreet about whom you tell about my school. There are groups out there that do not take kindly to mutants, after all."

Ruby nodded, gulping. That was an understatement. She glanced at Yang, a questioning look in her eye. Yang smiled and nodded, turning to Ozpin and saying, "Well, I don't see a problem with it. I've never actually met a mutant... but mom didn't raise us to judge people for what they can't help."

Ruby smiled at that.

"Me neither. As long as I can just be normal Ruby Rose at school, I'll be happy."

Ozpin hummed, looking at the two of them closely before he nodded once.

"Then we should get started on the paperwork. Miss Potts?"

. . .

Tony fired up his welding torch, sweat beading on his forehead and trickling over his welding goggles. He had about thirty percent of the exoskeleton done, and so far, none of his minders were any the wiser (he hoped). It was time to start building the armored shell that would actually protect him.

As sparks flew, Tony felt the low thrum that was his constant companion these days and grimaced. The Arc Reactor was nestled in his chest, buzzing with enough energy to wipe out a small city, simultaneously keeping him alive and most likely killing him slowly. Heh. His life was _hilarious_.

A few feet away, Yinsen was carefully assembling the flamethrowers that would be mounted in each wrist. The Ten Rings were cautious enough not to give either of them any ready-made weapons, and Tony had had to improvise. Not that he minded; it just took longer, and time was a luxury that he couldn't afford right now.

Several minutes later, Tony shut off the torch and flipped his goggles up, reaching out with a gloved hand to rap on the still warm chest-plate.

"Not bad. It'd be better if it was titanium, but there isn't much here."

Yinsen snorted off to the side, his eyes not straying from his work.

"Be thankful for what we do have, Stark. If they knew what you are planning... well, you are too valuable to kill, but they would stop playing nicely."

Tony snorted as well, eyes filled with dark humor.

"Nicely he says. Only worse place I've stayed at was a Motel 6."

Yinsen didn't favor that with a response, and Tony continued his perusal of the chest-plate. After a few moments, he nodded in grim satisfaction and reached for his goggles.

Absently, he wondered what his daughters were up to. How many days had it been since he'd seen them?

. . .

Ruby breathed in, then out, trying to steady her nerves.

"Hey, you ok, Rubes?"

Ruby smiled tightly at her sister.

"I'm just... first day at a new school is always nerve wracking for me."

"I know sis. But I'll be there for you."

Ruby's smile widened, before it fell.

"I wish mom was here."

"I know."

"And Tony."

"Me too."

Ruby sniffed, then wiped at her eyes.

"Has there been any recent news on him, JARVIS?"

JARVIS' voice poured out of the car's speakers, saying, "No, I'm afraid not Miss Rose. If anything comes up, you two will be the first I inform."

Ruby frowned.

"Well... you do that."

Happy pulled the car to a stop in the Beacon Institute parking lot and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Come on girls. I know it's hard without Pepper here, but I'm sure your first day will be great!"

Yang nudged Ruby.

"Listen to my boxing buddy, Rubes. Chin up, chest out, and don't forget to be yourself. Just like mom would want you to be."

Ruby nodded, and opened her door. Before her, she saw dozens of students milling around the entrance of Beacon, some of them congregating into groups of three or four. Ruby couldn't help but notice that quite a few students were bright blue, and she spotted one freshman girl with what looked like horns growing out of her head, along with a blonde boy with a tail sticking out of his jeans.

"Well... here goes nothing."

Ruby and Yang walked together into the school, the two sisters sticking close together. Soon, they were subsumed into the mass of students, and Ruby shrank into herself slightly. She never coped well with unfamiliar crowds.

"Right this way everyone. Headmaster Ozpin will be giving the start of term speech in the assembly room!"

Ruby and Yang exchanged a look before setting out with the rest of the herd down the corridor, the students being directed by a severe looking blonde woman in a pencil skirt.

The assembly hall was a large, open space with arena seating; the walls were paneled with grey-ish wood. On the small stage at the back of the hall, Ruby could see Ozpin standing in front of a microphone, cane held in one hand. The two sisters sat down and waited for the hall to quiet.

After a minute, every student had filed into the hall, and Ozpin cleared his throat, causing the students to fall silent. Then, the Headmaster began speaking.

"Today is an auspicious day. On this day nearly forty years ago, Charles Xavier founded the first ever school for mutant-kind in Westchester County, New York. It was meant to be a place where our kind could live and grow without fear of persecution, and I am proud to say that I was one of his first students. Over time, Charles opened the school to non mutants as well, on the condition that they treat their mutant classmates exactly the same as their non mutant ones, that they made friends with them, that they learned from them. Charles had a vision, you see; that one day, humanity would not treat mutant-kind with fear and derision. He foresaw a future wherein we would be judged on our merits and accomplishments, on the work that we put forward and the challenges we overcome. I believe in that vision. I believe that by working together, we are stronger. I believe that by standing united, we can advance towards a much brighter tomorrow. And so, fifteen years ago, Charles and I worked together to open a new school on the West Coast; the sister school to the Xavier Institute."

Ozpin paused, taking a moment to sweep the audience with his gaze. Ruby suppressed a shiver as it passed over her.

"Beacon Institute. A Beacon is a fire on a hill; a signal that was used in times past to call upon others. We are a signal of the change that is to come, the fire that will lead onward. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity, through diversity. However... the choice to engage with each other is not up to the staff or myself. It is up to you, the students, to reach out to each other and form connections. Enjoy your time here. Learn and grow as students and as people. And finally... I encourage you... try. Try your hardest. Throw your soul into every day as if every effort were your last. For the enemy of progress and change is apathy."

Ozpin paused again, closing his eyes for a brief moment.

"And so... at the start of this new year, I offer you this advice. Remember to keep an open mind, remember to be safe, and remember to do your very best."

Ozpin nodded once, and began walking off the stage. No one clapped; like Ruby and Yang, they were all still digesting the Headmaster's speech.

Yang shook her head and whispered to Ruby, "Man... that was some heavy stuff to drop on us on our first day here."

Ruby shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess…"

Any further conversation was cut off by the blonde haired woman from earlier taking the stage.

"Hello, my name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch, and I am one of the faculty here. All new students are to report to the front of the assembly hall to be assigned a guide. For our returning students, please note that your summer projects are due within twenty four hours; if you have not finished them yet, I would advise that you take advantage of Beacon's library in the very near future."

Yang snorted at that, and the two sisters joined the much smaller group of students moving to the front of the hall.

Ruby could see almost two dozen individuals near the stage, every one of them wearing a silver pin that she couldn't make out at this range.

"Alright, new students, listen up. Four of you will be assigned to an upperclassman to guide you around the Institute. Please, listen to what they have to say, they will be your introduction to our school and they will answer any questions you might have. Right? Right." said Professor Goodwitch.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie, the four of you will be following Miss Scarlatina around today."

Ruby saw one of the guides step forward, taking note of her long, cunicular ears and the short brown fur that covered her face. Four students, whom Ruby recognized two of, stepped out of the group and crowded around her before being led off.

Ruby whispered to her sister, "Hey Yang, It's Ren and Nora. I wonder what they're doing here? I thought they were still in Japan."

Yang simply shrugged and said, "I don't know. Maybe they're here as part of some sort of foreign exchange student program."

Any further discussion on the matter was interrupted by Professor Goodwitch calling out the names of the next group of students.

"Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, and Weiss Schnee, the four of you will be following Miss Adel today. Coco, please do remember what we talked about earlier today."

Ruby scanned the guides, spotting theirs when she stepped forward. Their guide was a rather tall young woman dressed in a stylish tan sweater, a beret perched atop her head. Oddly enough, Ruby noticed that she was wearing completely opaque sunglasses, even though they were indoors.

Yang grabbed her sister's elbow and pulled her along, a wide smile on her face.

"Helloooo~! So you're our guide for the day?"

The upperclassman gave Yang a once over before smirking.

"Got it in one, Blondie. And who's this little squirt?"

Yang pulled Ruby out from behind her.

"This here's my little sis, Ruby Rose. I'm Yang."

Coco nodded, face settling into a more neutral expression.

"Stark's kids, right? That's cool. Don't worry about anything, Missus G and I had a talk about your... circumstances earlier. Sorry about your dad."

Even though she had mentioned it rather abruptly, Ruby couldn't detect any fake sympathy in Coco's voice. If anything, it just seemed like the kind of person she was; blunt and to the point. Still, it hurt to hear even genuine sympathy as it reminded them of Tony's absence.

Yang's smile dimmed slightly as if she was thinking the same thing, but any more musings were cut off by Coco speaking.

"Ah, and here are the other two. Blake Belladonna and Weiss... Sneeze?"

"Schnee! My name is Schnee!"

Ruby suppressed a snort as she looked at their companions for the first day introduction. Weiss Schnee was dressed in white, and her hair was pure white as well. A scar trailed over her left eye. She was currently glaring at Coco, whose smirk had returned full force.

Blake Belladonna was dressed in black, contrasting with Weiss completely. The only hint of colour in her outfit was the lining of her hoodie, which was a rich plum colour. Ruby noted that her eyes were the colour of molten gold, and that she had a pair of cat ears poking up above her head.

Yang looked Blake up and down before sticking her hand out, grinning.

"Yang Xiao Long."

Blake raised an eyebrow fractionally before she too reached out her hand to shake Yang's.

"Blake Belladonna. You're Tony Stark's daughter, right?"

Yang just nodded, though Ruby could tell she was getting somewhat annoyed. Was this going to happen every time they met someone at this school?

Ruby blinked as someone shoved a hand into her face. She looked up to see Weiss Sneeze (*snicker* Schnee) frowning at her imperiously.

"Weiss Schnee."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head for a second before reaching out to shake the hand.

"Uh... Ruby Rose."

Coco watched the proceedings and, once they were all introduced, nodded sharply to herself.

"Right, off we go. Come along kiddos, time's a-wasting."

. . .

" _Hadha yakfi!_ "

Tony stopped tinkering on the suit servo he was working on and set it aside, exchanging a concerned glance with Yinsen as a dozen men with guns flooded into the cave. This was different, and different was bad. There had never been this many men in here before, not even when Abu was speaking to Tony.

The next moment, Tony realized _why_ there were so many men in the cave. A single man stalked into the room, one of his fingers laden down with a rather large ring, his bald head reflecting the lights overhead. He exuded danger and confidence. Tony had no doubt; whoever this guy was, he was the big fish around here.

The man eyed Tony, his gaze lingering for a brief second on the glow of the Arc Reactor in his chest. Then, he waved his fingers and spoke one word.

"Relax."

Tony tensed instead. Whoever this man was, he was standing in between him and his daughters. To make matters worse, Tony got the distinct feeling that he had not come around for tea and cakes.

The man wandered over to the table, picking up the servo that Tony had been tinkering with and turning it over in his hands, a knowing glint in his eyes.

"The bow and arrow... was once the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to create an Empire which stretched from the Pacific, to the Ukraine. An empire, twice the size of Alexander the Great, and four times the size of the Roman Empire."

The man put down the servo and slid his hands over the boots that Tony had finished constructing only yesterday.

"That is not so today. Today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. That is, after all, why you are here, Mister Stark."

Tony bristled. He knew. He must. This was very, very, bad. And as he always did when confronted with a very, very, bad situation, Tony attempted to talk his way out of it.

"We're working as fast as we can, if you want a delivery date I don't have one, but I can assure you that the finished product will be—"

The man raised his hand, and Tony heard the sound of several guns clicking. He walked forwards until he was only a few inches away from Tony's nose and reached out to tap the Arc reactor, his fingernails making a clicking sound on the metal.

"I have no doubt that you will deliver the best product that you can, Mister Stark. Once you have the right motivation."

The man paused, reaching inside of his jacket and pulling out a pistol. With exaggerated slowness, he pointed the gun at Yinsen.

Tony froze. These past few months, Yinsen had been his only friend. He'd come to respect the old man even more than he already had before meeting him, damnit! What could he do, how could he stop this? The suit wasn't ready yet, it would take at least fourteen hours to make it so, and that was if he cut some corners that he really wasn't comfortable cutting.

"Hey, come on, we're working as fast as we can, under the circumstances, and Yinsen's making that work go faster, if you shoot him, it's going to take twice as long to get done, so just... I need him, alright..."

The man casually stared down Yinsen, who stared back with neither deference nor defiance. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes and lowered the gun.

Then, he turned his gaze on Tony, a sneer on his lips.

"You have one day, Mister Stark. If, in that time the Jericho Missile is not finished, I will instruct my men to burn out your tongue and that of your assistant. Perhaps then, you will learn respect."

The man tucked the gun back in his jacket and left without another word. As the men filed out, Tony turned towards Yinsen. The door closed, leaving the two of them alone.

"Well... shit."

Yinsen laughed humorlessly.

"Should I get started on installing that servo?"

Tony nodded.

"I'll make the helmet. We don't have much time left."


	11. Chapter 11: The Great Escape

A/N: Salutations friends! Since the chapter title's reference is kind of in-your-face obvious, virtual cookies will not be rewarded for that, but there will be virtual cookies rewarded to anyone who gets the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference.

Reviews:

 **trickster3696** , in regards to a question about how far into the timeline of the MCU this story will go, I am hoping to be able to have the overall story go at least as far as Avengers Infinity War Part 2, although I think I may need to break up the story into a series with each book (for lack of a better term) spanning either one movie or one phase so I don't end up with like a thousand chapters and set a record for most chapters in a story, not sure which I should do. What do you guys think?

 **LogicalFallacies** , yes Weiss is a mutant, however she will in the distant future be spending some time getting her study on with a certain sorcerer supreme as her teacher.

 **dreaddragonknight** , to answer your question about the different name for mutants in the MCU, the reason they were referred to as Miracles is because the MCU is owned by Disney and 20th Century Fox owns the rights to X-men and as a result Marvel Studios could not call them mutants without Fox taking legal action against them. Also I'm not sure what you mean by "pull a Hues," but I have not thought far ahead enough specific detail-wise to have plans for Tony to show off pictures of Ruby and Yang to people. As for changes to Tony's part in the story for this arc, yes there will be a lot of canon divergence for Tony both in this arc as well as in this story as a whole, of which the first major bit of divergence being present in this chapter.

 **Scarlet Firesong** , Ruby and Yang's powers will be both natural and tech based and if you want to know how it is both you will just have to wait until this story's Iron Man 2 arc. As for Ruby's speed and rose petals, there will be no rose petals involved. The rose petals were a stylistic anime thing that I am tossing because in case you hadn't noticed I have not been treating this like an anime at all.

 **Kilo8** , nope Pyrrha will not be related to Magneto because A) that is not how the x-gene works and B) Trust me when I say that the back story I have for Pyrrha having polarity like Magneto will be far more interesting than her being related to him. No mutant that I can think of has ever had the same powers as their parent, well except for X-23 which is not the same as she is a clone whom is to Wolverine as Connor Kent/Superboy is to Superman.

 **YourAverageGem** , oh yes I have many plans for the involvement of Penny but I won't say what those plans are because *spoilers.*

 _ **Edited Approximately 8 hours after initial chapter upload**_ : I majorly goofed and forgot to include a shout out that I was supposed to and for that I would like to apologize profusely. So here it is. I would like to give a HUGE shout out to **Colonel-Sheep-29** for doing an AMAZING job creating the cover art for this story for me.

Now, enough Chit-Chat. Story Time!

* * *

Chapter 11: The Great Escape

* * *

Tony set down the completed helmet on the work table where Yinsen was just finishing up soldering the wiring for the suit. "Okay, that's the last of it. Now we just need to suit me up and then it's show time." Tony said wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I will ready the rigging for the armor while you plant the booby-trap for the door."

Minutes later, Tony was standing still as possible in an alcove that was a blind spot for the cameras as Yinsen tightened the bolts to ensure that they would hold the armor together. "Okay, say it again." Yinsen said as he primed the wrist mounted flamethrower on the right arm of the armor.

"41 steps straight ahead. 16 steps, from the door. At the fork, turn right. Then 33 steps, and then turn right…" Tony said, reciting the memorized pathway he would need to take in order to escape the network of tunnels the cave was made of.

As Yinsen was continuing his work of prepping the armor, a loud clang suddenly reverberated throughout the cave indicating that one of their captors had slid open the viewing slit in the door.

"Yinsen! Yinsen, Stark!" one of their captors called to them before proceeding to yell at them in a language that Tony could not identify.

"Say something." Tony urged Yinsen with a whisper.

"He's speaking-He's speaking Hungarian. I don't know enough Hungarian." Yinsen whispered back, voice shaking with stress and anxiety.

"Well, say something, anything. Maybe try telling him you don't know enough Hungarian to understand him. That might buy us some time while he goes to get someone you can understand."

"Okay, I'll try…" Yinsen said before calling out to the man at the door in Hungarian.

Unfortunately whatever Yinsen said apparently had not worked, because moments later the sound of the door being unlocked could be heard, followed shortly by the explosion of the booby-trap being triggered by the door being opened.

"How'd that work out?" Tony asked curiously once the explosion cleared and the sound of it had stopped echoing enough to hear.

"Oh my goodness… It worked all right. Now, let me finish this." Yinsen said about to go to work on the next bolt in the chest piece.

"Initialize the power sequence first."

"O-Okay." Yinsen said rushing over to the laptop. "Tell me what do."

"Press Function 11. That'll bring up a progress bar. Once you see the progress bar press control 'I,' and then hit enter. Once you've got that done, get over here and finish buttoning me up."

Yinsen quickly entered the commands into the laptop and then picked the power drill back up and went back to work on the bolts for the chest piece.

"Just do every other hex bolt. It doesn't have to be anything pretty." Tony said starting to feel claustrophobic stuck in the armor unable to do anything as their remaining time ticked away.

Yinsen finished tightening the bolts on the chest piece and then set the power drill down before looking at the laptop screen to see the progress bar displaying that it was still just barely over 50% complete.

"Remember to make sure that the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out." Tony said.

"We need more time…" Yinsen whispered. Then Yinsen realized that there was only one solution to the lack of time. He would have to buy Tony the time with a distraction. Hardening his resolve, Yinsen turned to face Tony with a fire of courage in his eyes. "I'm going to go create a distraction to lead them away from you long enough to buy you the time you need for the sequence to finish. Don't worry about me. I will play it smart and we will both make it out of here alive." Yinsen said before running and grabbing the rifles of the two fallen terrorists and then running off into the tunnels firing in short bursts to make enough noise to lead the remaining terrorists away.

"Damn it! This is your fault!" Tony said to the laptop. "If you had loaded faster we could have stuck to the plan."

After several anguishing minutes of waiting during which Tony could do nothing but angrily glare at the laptop as it slowly loaded, the power sequence finished. The finishing of the power sequence was followed immediately by a power outage throughout the cave. In the tiniest noticeable fraction of a second the cave was cloaked in darkness and permeated with an eerie silence. And it seemed that the power sequence had not completed a second too soon as just as Tony closed his helmet, he could hear a group of terrorists rushing in.

Tony flexed his hands and waited for the right moment to strike. That moment presented itself when one of them who had been sent further into the cave to investigate alone turned around right in front Tony upon hearing an electrical sound from the armor.

Tony raised his right arm and backhanded the man sending him flying clear across the cave and crashing into the cave wall.

'Yep. He's probably not getting back up from that anytime soon.' Tony thought

The other terrorists started firing blindly at everything and anything after seeing their compatriot inexplicably fly across the room. As soon as they stopped firing Tony waited a moment and then jumped out at them clobbering the nearest one. With two more punches Tony had managed to take out the entire group of terrorists that had entered the cave. A wave of euphoria washed over Tony as he reveled in the power he felt from being able to bat his captors away like flies.

Tony started down the tunnel, walking as if he owned the place and using the memorized directions to guide him. A terrorist at the end of the tunnel tried to stop Tony by firing at his hulking armor, only for the bullets to bounce off like crumpled up balls of paper. Seeing that the bullets were doing nothing to slow Tony down, the man gave out a battle cry as he charged headlong at Tony firing at him.

'The common sense is not strong with this one.' Tony thought with a manic grin as he backhanded the terrorist into the tunnel wall.

Another terrorist who decided to try his luck doing the same thing met a similar fate as Tony threw a jab of his fist at his face sending the terrorist flying down the tunnel. This pattern continued with terrorists continuing to try to halt Tony's progress by firing whatever firearms they had until they wised up and sealed themselves behind a set of steel double doors, leaving an unfortunate panicking man on the same side of the doors as Tony.

'Ha. They think they can escape that easily…' Tony thought as he approached the doors. 'This is for kidnapping me.' Tony's armored fist contacted with the head of the terrorist who was abandoned by his compatriots and kept going, putting a dent in the door that of the two steel doors was towards Tony's left. 'This is for coming between me and my daughters.' Tony's fist struck against the steel door again, deepening the dent. 'This is for torturing me.' Tony hit the door a third time, denting it so much that there was a gap between the doors that Tony could just barely see through. 'And this is for all the tears you undoubtedly caused my daughters to shed.' With a final blow, the steel doors flew off their hinges crushing one of the fleeing terrorists.

Tony strode down the current tunnel and, just as he reached the next junction, he heard footsteps running towards him from the tunnel to his left. He raised his left arm and attempted to backhand a terrorist coming from the left tunnel but all he got for his trouble was effectively performing a backhanded clothesline on the man and his arm stuck in the rock of the tunnel wall.

'Oh, come on! Not now.' Tony thought irritably as he tried repeatedly to free his arm from the tunnel wall.

One of the terrorists that had been running by noticed that Tony's arm was stuck and so attempted sneak up on and shoot Tony in the head with a pistol from point blank range. This of course immediately backfired on the man when the bullet ricocheted off of the helmet of Tony's armor and hit the terrorist in the head causing him to collapse. Curious what caused the metal ringing noise, Tony turned to see the terrorist lying there dead.

'Did he just… shoot himself?' Tony wondered.

Tony returned his focus to his arm stuck in the rock, and with one final tug freed his arm. Resuming his path of escape, Tony was beginning to wonder what had happened to Yinsen. There had so far been no indication the former professor had been through here. Was he somewhere back deeper inside the network of tunnels and caves? Had Yinsen somehow managed to sneak out through the front cave amidst all the chaos Tony was causing? Or was he…

Tony came to a grinding halt as he came to the back opening of the front cave and saw Yinsen lying back against a pile of sandbags looking like he had been wounded in the right leg, if the blood covering the lower portion of Yinsen's right pantleg was anything to go by.

"Yinsen!" Tony cried out as he started to move towards the older man.

"Watch out!" Yinsen warned.

Tony stopped just in time to miss being hit by a small missile that had been fired from near the cave entrance. He turned towards the source to find the bald man who had threatened to shoot Yinsen in an effort to motivate Tony. Deciding to fight fire with fire, Tony opened a compartment on his left forearm revealing a small missile of his own. He yanked a cord that fired the missile at the bald terrorist hitting the wall immediately behind him and knocking him down.

Tony refocused on Yinsen going over and removing a sandbag from the former professor's chest.

"Stark." Yinsen said, the amount of pain he was feeling obvious in his voice.

Tony lifted the faceplate of his helmet and said, "Can you stand? We've gotta go."

"Unfortunately, I've been shot in the knee so even if I could withstand the pain there is no way that I can walk out of here on my own, much less stand." Yinsen said gritting his teeth due to the pain. "Also there is the matter of all the armed men in their camp outside."

Tony mentally cursed and said, "Okay, fine. I'll go out there and clear us a path. Then I am gonna come back and I'll carry you out. Sound good?"

Yinsen simply nodded his head in affirmation.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Tony said before closing the faceplate of his helmet and making his way to the cave entrance.

Almost as soon as Tony had stepped outside into the sunlight, at least a dozen terrorists armed with assault rifles opened fire on him. Of course just like all previous attempts to shoot him, the bullets bounced ineffectively off Tony's armor. After close to a solid minute they stopped firing wondering whether there was much point trying to continue firing at the massive suit of armor.

Tony readied himself and said, "My turn." Squeezing the trigger mechanisms in both gauntlets, Tony caused twin spouts of flame to pour out of both wrist mounted flamethrowers, engulfing everything in their path. Tony moved forward a few paces allowing him to engulf enough of the stock piles of Stark Industries weapons that Tony was sure that the ensuing explosion would be sufficient to allow him to be able to carry Yinsen out of here. With his work complete and the knowledge he had limited time before the stock piles of weapons exploded, Tony quickly, but cautiously backed up into the cave and waited for the fireworks.

And fireworks they were. Maybe it was not quite as colorful as the kind used for rock concert pyrotechnics or New Year's celebrations, but in Tony's humble opinion the fiery explosion he beheld from inside the cave was just as majestic.

"So," Tony said, lifting up the faceplate of his helmet as he turned to face Yinsen, "Why don't we see about getting your leg bandaged up, hmm?"

"Yes, please. Let's do that."

. . .

3 hours later found Tony having managed to extract himself from the suit of armor, Yinsen's leg bandaged to stop the bleeding, head coverings to protect against the desert sun for both Yinsen and Tony fashioned from their clothing, and the two men trekking through the desert sands in a westerly direction, with Yinsen leaning on Tony for support.

"So, tell me Yinsen, where do you live?"

"Well I originally lived in Timbetpal, in the Himalayas, but at the time I was captured by the Ten Rings I was living in Seattle, Washington with my family. Although, at the time I was planning to move back to Timbetpal due to my marriage having fallen apart."

"Oh, man. That's rough. You got any kids?"

"Just one. A daughter. Her name is Toni. She would be about eleven years old now."

"She smart like you?"

"Oh yes, she was proving to be quite the child prodigy when I last saw her and I can only imagine her intelligence has grown sharper since then."

"Well don't you worry. We'll have you all patched up and back with your daughter before you know it." Just then as they were cresting a hill of sand, as if on cue, a pair of U.S. Air Force helicopters flew overhead. "Hey!" Tony yelled out waving his arm that was not helping to support Yinsen. Both Tony and Yinsen dropped to their knees with exhaustion relieved that they no longer had to trek through the desert. Tony stopped waving his arm and simply held it straight up making a peace sign with his fingers. He let his arm drop to his side as the helicopters landed and a group of airmen carrying rifles jumped out and approached the two fatigued men, led by none other than the one and only Colonel James Rhodes.

Rhodey came to a stop in front of Tony and Yinsen and he asked, "So, how was the funvee?"

Tony gave a cynical smile of amusement thinking, 'Of course that comment would come back to bite me.'

"Next time, you ride with me." Rhodey said as he put a hand on Tony's free shoulder and took a knee to be on the same level as Tony. Then, briefly glancing at Yinsen, Rhodey asked, "By the way, who's your new friend?"

"Rhodey, meet physicist and former professor Yinsen Ho. Yinsen Ho, meet Airman Colonel James Rhodes. Or as I like to call him, Rhodey."

"A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Colonel Rhodes. I have heard many good things about you from Mr. Stark. Also, you may call me Yinsen."

"A pleasure to meet you as well Yinsen. And you may call me Rhodey. Now let's get you two to safety."

. . .

The next morning, after being made to spend the night in the base infirmary, Tony was being escorted to meet someone that wanted to speak with him. He could not for the life of him figure out whom it was since he had not yet gotten the chance to call Pepper, meaning no one back home that really mattered to him would even know that he had escaped captivity. Tony's escort came to a halt outside of what looked like a private office that, according to the plaque next to the open door, belonged to a 'Brigadier General Riley Finn.'

Tony's escort gestured to the doorway saying, "In here Mr. Stark."

Tony stepped into the office and was met with a woman with hair white as snow sitting behind a desk. She had a fair complexion, and she was wearing an immaculate suit.

As his escort closed the door behind him Tony said, "Well you sure don't look like a 'Riley Finn.' A 'Jennifer' maybe, or perhaps a 'Pearl,' but not a 'Riley.'"

"Winter, actually. Hello Mr. Stark, I am Agent Winter Schnee. I'm with the CIA. As for the name discrepancy, I convinced General Finn to run an impromptu inspection of the base so we could have somewhere to speak in private. Now please, have a seat Mr. Stark." The woman now identified as Winter said, before indicating to the chair across from her.

"So," Tony began as he sat in the indicated chair, "What can I do for the CIA?"

"Mr. Stark, allow me to be frank. 3 months ago you were taken captive by a group of terrorists after demonstrating a new piece of military weaponry. Now, while your capture did not initially appear to be especially noteworthy, after a contact of mine that you apparently know contacted me with suspicions they had, it came to the CIA's attention that there is a mole within the upper ranks of your company. As such I was put in charge of the CIA's investigation of your capture. What you can do for me, is to allow me to debrief you on your capture, and assist me in any way you can to help me determine the identity of the mole."

Tony wiped a hand down his face and said, "Damn. So that's how they got their grubby little hands on those."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well now, you see Agent the group that captured me had quite the stockpile of weapons made by MY company. Which was of course why once I am back stateside, one of the first things I will be doing is to shut down all Stark Industries weapons manufacturing. However, knowing that they probably got their stockpiles from this mole, and not through the black market, I'm inclined to sit back and see if I can't force this mole's hand through other means."

Winter's eyes widened before quickly returning to normal size and then she said, "I'm definitely inclined to agree with you that a group of terrorists, especially one as well organized as the one that captured you appears to be, possessing a large supply of Stark Industries weaponry is a bad thing. I also agree with you that with a mole in your company, the shutting down of weapons manufacturing by your company is ill-advised, as it will likely alert the mole to the fact that you are onto them."

"By the way, who's this contact of yours that I know?"

"Qrow Branwen."

"Oh."

"Now getting back to why we are here. Mr. Stark I would like you to, starting from the beginning, tell me exactly what happened when you were captured."


	12. AN: Apologies For the Delay

A/N: Salutations friends! I'm sorry this isn't a new chapter [Ducks under thrown shoe] I just wanted to make sure you all knew I was still alive and apologize because of the delay I have been experiencing in writing the next chapter for this fic. This past month I was extremely busy with preparing for midterms for university classes and rehearsals for a haunted maze thingy I performed in on a volunteer basis that was part of a Halloween Trunk-Or-Treat event that was put on by my university for children in the surrounding community. Additionally, I was experiencing a road block in figuring out the tiny details for the next chapter for this fic. All of this culminated in me having an inability to make any progress in writing the next chapter. However, that is all dealt with now so I should be able to finish writing the next chapter sometime between this Friday and next Friday and then the beta reading process should take at most a week, so I should have it ready to upload two weeks from now at the latest. Again I'm really sorry for the delay.

Until then,

SoloPlayer339.


	13. AN: Update Coming Soon-ish

A/N: Salutations friends! I want to start out by apologizing profusely for basically ghosting all of you on top of saying I would put up the next chapter in 2 weeks about 6 months ago and yet it has been... well about 6 months. I also want apologize profusely for getting all of your hopes up for a new chapter and yet this is just only an authors note.

So, back in November when I said I would have the next chapter up in 2 weeks I had completely spaced on a huge project I had to turn in 2 weeks later for my Theatrical Stagecraft class, which I had not even started, and that I would have to do a presentation on 2 weeks after that as well as several papers I had to write for a slew of labs in my Astronomy class that were assigned on the same week and were due after Thanksgiving break. As a result my free time was heavily occupied until I finished my finals on the 20th of December. During my winter break which ran from the 21st of December to the 13th of January, I repeatedly sat down to write the next chapter, but instead ended up with me being pummeled by writer's block, me writing sizeable chunks of the chapter only to decide I hated everything and erasing everything I had written, and then constantly in fits of desperation looking at other RWBY and RWBY crossover fanfics for some form of inspiration only to find myself in multiple several hundred thousand world long stories that became blackholes for my time. Then the current semester started and I have had a huge workload the entire time. I will not have any free time to write until some time in June because while I finish my finals on either the 22nd or the 23rd of May I will then have Jury duty the week of the 27th of May, which there is no telling how long that will last, and I will then once Jury duty is done have to be fully focused on being full steam ahead to get packed up so my family and I can be moved out of our apartment by the 13th or 14th of June. However we will only being moving across town so it won't be like I am in some mountain range half way around the world where the internet connection is shoddy at best.

Once I have free time to write, my first order of business will have to be the one thing I am certain blocked me from making any headway in writing the next chapter which would be the fact that I have zero reference for ground plans for Beacon Academy in RWBY and zero reference for ground plans for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters from X-men which I had been hoping I could mash together for the set up of the grounds of Beacon Institute. So basically I am going to have to start from scratch and draft ground plans for Beacon Institue, because while it might not affect any of you I tend to be a bit obssesive about knowing exactly where everything is in a given area before I can actually write about people navigating through that area. Hence why I watched all the way through the scene where Tony makes his escape in the Mark I Iron Man armor at least like 25 to 30 just so I could write it.

So, I am alive and I should, key word being should, have the next chapter up for you all soon-ish sometime in the later half of June. Also, when I do post the next chapter I will be deleting this and the last author's note so that they won't be there to interrupt the flow of the story.

Also, one last thing before I forget. Since I know you guys don't like having to wait for months on end for me to post the next chapter and I definitely don't like making you guys wait for months on end, I am going to post a poll on profile with two different approaches I can take to posting chapters, one of which will have inconsistent posting and the other will have regular posting. I just want to see what you all would prefer.

That is it from me and I hope you all stay sensational friends,

SoloPlayer339 out!


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